If Vulcan, the main contractors would be ULA, Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, Aerojet Rocketdyne, and RUAG.If Falcon 9/Heavy, the contractor is SpaceX, with maybe RUAG offering Heavy fairings.If New Glenn, Blue Origin.If Omega, Northrop Grumman and Aerojet Rocketdyne.If the Pentagon wants to keep RL-10 and/or Northrop Grumman solids, it will need to pick either Vulcan or Omega or both.If the Pentagon wants to lose all of the legacy costs and hope the new guys will play cheaper, then Falcon/New Glenn. Splitting the difference seems likely to me. One legacy, one new space. One Red State, one Blue State. Etc. So, obviously the two all-American options, Omega and New Glenn! - Ed Kyle
When will the two providers be selected?
Omega will be using total new hydrolox upper stage, something NGIS doesn't have any experience with. RL10 and avionics maybe flight proven but rest of components will be new.NG US will be new including engines even if they are based on BE3 from NS. I expect Blue use as may of flight proven systems eg valves etc from NS. Should be lower risk than Omega US but lot higher risk than Centuar V.I would say FH with its 3 flights a lower risk option. Separate of boosters is still area of risk. Rest of vehicle is F9 with its good flight history. Comes down to ULA and SpaceX with BE4 engines still big unknown. BE4 will have benefit of building flight history on two LVs at same time. Every NG flight is equivalent of 3.5 Vulcan flights.
BRUNO: NATIONAL SECURITY LAUNCH MARKET ONLY BIG ENOUGH FOR TWOBy Marcia Smith | Posted: October 23, 2019 11:56 pm ET | Last Updated: October 24, 2019 12:28 am ETUnited Launch Alliance (ULA) President Tory Bruno insisted today that the foreseeable national security launch market is only big enough to support two launch service providers, not three as some are advocating. Expanding the pool to three would be a “giant mistake” imperiling the financial viability of all of them.
Bruno said ULA is confident that Vulcan will be ready to fly Category C payloads by 2023, approximately one year before the last scheduled flight of the Delta 4 Heavy.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said Oct. 22 that the company will be ready to compete for Category C missions if it wins one of the two slots in Phase 2.The Falcon Heavy will be able to do these missions, she said. “We don’t need more performance, we don’t need heavier rockets, we don’t need more margin. The only thing that stands between us and our ability to fly those is an extended fairing, which is not hard,” Shotwell said. The company is looking to either buy a fairing from an outside vendor or develop its own. “We still have to see what the right approach is,” she said.
https://twitter.com/wapodavenport/status/1196541212808941568
Wow. Blue Origin’s protest of the Air Force national security launch contract sustained by the GAO.
1. Contains unclear and ambiguous selection criteria. The Air Force laid out a list of weighting factors, and it will mix and match bidders’ offerings and pick two. The Air Force says it will select any combination of those providers that provide best value. Blue Origin argues that there is no clarity on what best value is, and claims that many of the government’s technical requirements are too vague to accurately price.2. Discriminates against new competitors by asking bidders to offer a backup launch vehicle. Blue Origin argues that provision favors incumbents as new entrant companies would not have a backup option. Blue Origin is developing the New Glenn heavy-lift rocket for the commercial and governments markets.3. Unnecessarily restricts competition by awarding exclusive five-year contracts to only two providers. The company contends this will perpetuate a market duopoly in national security space launch, causing higher launch prices and a missed opportunity to capitalize on industry innovation.
Air Force changes how it buys rockets after Blue Origin protest, but it may not move the needle for BezosPUBLISHED THU, NOV 21 20194:00 PM ESTMichael Sheetz@THESHEETZTWEETZKEY POINTSJeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin is pitted against SpaceX, Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance in trying to win contracts to fly military spacecraft under the U.S. Air Force’s lucrative Launch Service Procurement (LSP) program.Air Force acquisition lead Will Roper said in a statement it will remove the phrase “when combined” from its criteria after the Government Accountability Office sustained Blue Origin’s protestJefferies analyst Greg Konrad told CNBC the military branch’s change is unlikely to move the needle for Blue Origin’s chances at winning a contract with its New Glenn rocket.
Got a weird idea today..Would it be allowed for Blue Origin to bid the Atlas V (or Vulcan) rocket and switch to their New Glenn once it is ready and certified?
Independent study of launch market says U.S. Air Force should support three domestic providersby Sandra Erwin — January 12, 2020In response to concerns about its launch procurement strategy, the Air Force asked RAND to conduct an analysis of the heavy lift launch market.WASHINGTON — An independent study of the space launch market commissioned by the U.S. Air Force suggests the service should support three providers in the short term to ensure it has access to space over the next decade.
