The U.S. Air Force has awarded United Launch Alliance (ULA)–a partnership between Boeing [BA] and Lockheed Martin [LMT]–and SpaceX contracts worth $384 million for work under Phase 2 of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program for the U.S. Space Force (USSF).
The service awarded ULA nearly $224.3 million on March 9 for “basic launch services and mission integration for USSF-112 and USSF-87,” per the contract announcement. “Work will be performed in Centennial, Colorado; and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023.”
SpaceX received two firm-fixed price task orders worth $159.7 million for basic launch services and mission integration for USSF-36 and for basic launch services for NROL-69–a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) mission. The NRO is to perform mission integration for NROL-69.
“Work will be performed in Hawthorne, California; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023,” according to the contract announcement.
Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of USSF’s Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Enterprise, said that the contracts represent the second order of the five-year Phase 2 ordering period and are part of “the flexibility offered by our Phase 2 providers to make the best launch choices and adjustments as we proceed.”
USSF-36 has a scheduled launch date in the second quarter of fiscal 2023, NROL-69 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, USSF-112 in the third quarter of fiscal 2023, and USSF-87 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, SMC said.
Last Aug. 7, the Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), in partnership with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), awarded ULA $337 million for two classified mission launches and SpaceX a $316 million contract for one classified mission launch under Phase 2 of NSSL.
Northrop Grumman [NOC] and Blue Origin lost out in the Phase 2 awards.
While the U.S. Air Force said that it did not pay termination costs to Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin for ending their Launch Service Agreement Other Transaction Authority (LSA OTA) pacts on Dec. 31, the service did pay the companies more than $787 million for meeting milestones in the more than two years the companies spent developing their launch systems–OmegA for Northrop Grumman and New Glenn for Blue Origin.
The Air Force paid $531.7 million to Northrop Grumman and $255.5 million to Blue Origin (Defense Daily, Jan. 22).