With new contracts, SpaceX will become the best launch provider for the American army

• SpaceX will receive 28 missions worth 5.9 billion dollars
• ULA will receive 19 missions worth 5.4 billion dollars
• Blue Origin will have seven missions of approximately

This is equivalent to a 60-40 division between SpaceX and ULA for most of the missions. Upon entering the competition, military officials put aside seven additional missions to launch with a third supplier, allowing a new player to take a foothold on the market. The Space Force reserves the right to reappear missions between the three suppliers if one of them is in trouble.

The Pentagon confirmed that a fourth nameless company also submitted a proposal, but was not selected for phase 3.

Rounded to the nearest million, the contract with SpaceX reaches an average of $ 212 million per launch. For Ula, it’s $ 282 million and Blue Origin’s price is $ 341 million per launch. But take these figures with caution. Contracts include many bells and whistles, prices higher than a sales customer could pay.

According to the Pentagon, contracts provide “launch services, unique mission services, mission acceleration, rapid reaction / resolution of anomalies, special studies, launching services, fleet monitoring and early integration / mission analysis studies”.

Essentially, the spatial force pays a premium to the three launch providers for the priority of the calendar, tailor -made solutions and access to data from each flight of the rocket of each company, among others.

“Winning 60% of the missions may seem generous, but the reality is that all the Competitors SpaceX combined cannot currently deliver the 40% others!,” Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, published on X. “I hope they will succeed, but they are not yet there.”

It is true if you look at the flight rate of each company. SpaceX launched Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Rockets 140 times in the last 365 days. These are the proven Rockets of SpaceX flight will use Space Force missions.