ULA’s Vulcan rocket on the launch pad ahead of the USSF-106 mission. Photo: ULA
Under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program, SpaceX is to launch five NSSL Phase 3, Lane 2 missions through September 2026 for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), while United Launch Alliance (ULA) is to launch two, the service’s Space Systems Command (SSC) said last Friday.
Blue Origin did not receive any missions but may in fiscal 2027. ULA is a Boeing–Lockheed Martin partnership.
“The SpaceX [fiscal 2026] assigned missions have a total price of $714 million and the ULA [fiscal 2026] assigned missions have a total price of $428 million,” SSC said.
In April, SSC awarded $14 billion in NSSL Phase 3, Lane 2 contracts to SpaceX, ULA, and Blue Origin–more than $5.9 billion for SpaceX, more than $5.3 billion for ULA, and nearly $2.4 billion for Blue Origin.
While NSSL Phase 3, Lane 1 is for launches involving commodity-type payloads, NSSL Phase 3, Lane 2 is for launches related to “assured access and the highest reliability for our most demanding, least risk-tolerant payloads,” according to SSC.
SpaceX missions in fiscal 2026 for the company’s Falcon 9 rocket include USSF-206 carrying the Boeing-built 12th Wideband Global SATCOM satellite, USSF-155, USSF-149, USSF-63, and NROL-86 for the NRO.
ULA is to use its Vulcan rocket to launch NROL-88 for the NRO and USSF-88 carrying the Lockheed Martin-built GPS IIIF-4 satellite.
This story was first published by Defense Daily
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