Vulcan

United Launch Alliance’s plan is to complete Vulcan’s first two commercial launches in 2022 so the vehicle can be certified to fly its first national security mission in 2023.

Blue Origin forecast in 2015 that the BE-4 would be ready by 2017 but had not delivered flight-ready engines needed for Vulcan’s inaugural flight as of the article.

United Launch Alliance designated Vulcan as its next-generation rocket in 2015 and awarded Blue Origin a contract to supply BE-4 engines in 2018.

The U.S. Space Force invested nearly $1,000,000,000 in the development of Vulcan.

United Launch Alliance announced in 2015 that it would build the Vulcan rocket as its next-generation vehicle to replace Atlas 5 and Delta 4.

United Launch Alliance indicated that customer payload delays, rather than Vulcan technical issues, could delay the Peregrine launch into 2022.

Technical challenges in the development of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket could prevent the Department of Defense from ending its reliance on the Russian-made RD-180 engine by 2022 as required by Congress.

The BE-4 engine under development for ULA’s Vulcan rocket experienced technical challenges related to igniter and booster capabilities and may not be qualified in time to support first launches beginning in 2021.

If United Launch Alliance cannot complete engine qualification before the 2021 flight certification, the program might continue to rely on ULA’s Atlas V to support 2022 launches despite a nearly $2,900,000,000 investment in Vulcan development.

Delays in the development of Vulcan’s main engine could make it difficult for the Department of Defense to comply with legislation that bans DoD from procuring launches on RD-180-powered vehicles beyond 2022.

United Launch Alliance bid its new Vulcan rocket, which uses the domestically produced BE-4 engine made by Blue Origin, for the DoD launch contract.

United Launch Alliance announced in 2015 that it would build Vulcan as its next-generation rocket to replace the Atlas 5 and the Delta 4.

Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander will launch on the inaugural flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, currently scheduled for no earlier than late 2021.

Blue Origin delivered BE-4 pathfinder engines for ground tests in 2020 but had not provided a flight-qualified BE-4 engine for Vulcan’s first flight as of the source date.

Vulcan’s first-stage booster requires a BE-4 engine before Vulcan can launch missions.

United Launch Alliance awarded Blue Origin a contract in 2018 for production of BE-4 engines for Vulcan.

Vulcan is expected to fly its first mission later in 2021 and begin launching National Security Space Launch missions in 2022.

RL10 sales to Vulcan, Atlas V, and Delta IV will partially offset Aerojet Rocketdyne’s revenue losses from retiring engines but will not replace past peak sales of RS-68 and AJ-60.