The Boeing–Lockheed Martin joint venture that launches satellites for military and intelligence agencies plans to award a massive rocket engine contract to a potential rival.
The United Launch Alliance will announce Blue Origin as the winner of a long-term, potentially multi-billion-dollar contract to build engines for its Vulcan rocket, The Wall Street Journal reported. The contract, which was years in the making, intends to again use American-made engines for military launches after relying on Russian-made systems.
Blue Origin, the private spaceflight company established by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has already repeatedly launched its New Shepard rocket but has grander ambitions — including launching military payloads of its own — for a forthcoming, larger rocket.
The ULA contract puts Blue Origin in the Pentagon launch business for the first time, and the engine that secured it, the BE-4, will also power Blue Origin’s under-development New Glenn rocket.
The company won the contract over longtime NASA contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne. In addition to ULA and Aerojet, fellow private spaceflight company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is already carrying government payloads into space, while defense giant Northrop Grumman recently acquired Orbital ATK's spaceflight efforts in a $9.2 billion deal.
Image Credit: United Launch Alliance/https://www.ulalaunch.com/about/news/2015/04/13/united-launch-alliance-unveils-america-s-new-rocket-vulcan-innovative-next-generation-launch-system-will-provide-country-s-most-reliable-affordable-and-accessible-launch-service