This week, the US Air Force made a couple of announcements about future launches of the Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle as well as the Atlas V rocket. Both vehicles, built and launched by United Launch Alliance, once held a monopoly on the launch of US national security satellites.

But now that is changing for good, said Col. Robert Bongiovi, Director of Launch Enterprise for the Air Force, during a conference call with reporters. “These are the last remnants of our sole source contracts,” Bongiovi said. “We look forward to embracing the competitive landscape that we have worked hard with industry to create.”

Delta IV Heavy

Bongiovi said the Air Force intends to fly National Reconnaissance Office satellites on the Delta IV Heavy rocket five more times, beginning next year, with the final flight occurring in 2024. Because the Air Force is the only customer for this rocket, it will provide a total of $1.18 billion in “Launch Operations Support” funding, to be spread across the launch of these five spy satellites.