SpaceX Wins Its First US Air Force Contract For Military Satellite Launch

American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, SpaceX, has won an $87.2 million contract from the US Air Force to launch a military GPS satellite in May 2018, according to a recent report. The national security launch will be the first one that SpaceX will carry out for the US military, since the American company got approval in May 2015 to launch military satellites.

As per reports, it does not come as a surprise that SpaceX got the contract as it bid unopposed. The United Launch Alliance (ULA), a tie-up between Lockheed Martin and Boeing since 2006, is the only other spaceflight company that has authorization to launch military satellites. In fact, the company has launched nearly every satellite for the US military since its formation. However, ULA had declined the bid for the GPS-3 satellite contract because it couldn't have a rocket ready by the time of the expected launch.

Nabbing the US Air Force contract signals a huge victory for SpaceX. It is being speculated that ULA will possibly start making more bids now for Air Force launch contracts, after SpaceX got authorization to launch military satellites. The GPS-3 satellite is the first of nine contracts that the Air Force has planned, which implies ULA and SpaceX could be directly competing for military business in the future.

According to a former vice president at ULA, the company didn't want to engage in a cost shoot out with SpaceX. The cost of rockets from Spacex begin at $60 million while ULA's Atlas V, it primary rocket, costs around $164 million to launch. The price difference implies SpaceX offers a more reasonable alternative for the Defense Department as compared to ULA. According to reports, if low prices are a priority for the US Air Force, then SpaceX could end up winning more military launch contracts in the future.