Delta 4 Heavy

ULA is under contract to launch one more National Reconnaissance Office satellite on the Delta 4 Heavy in 2024 from Cape Canaveral.

United Launch Alliance is under contract to launch two more National Reconnaissance Office satellites on the Delta 4 Heavy in 2023 and 2024 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Air Force procured Delta 4 Heavy rockets for NROL-44 and NROL-82 in fiscal year 2017 under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Phase 1 Block Buy contract with ULA.

United Launch Alliance launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite on a Delta 4 Heavy rocket on 2023-06-22 at 5:18 a.m. Eastern.

Funds for the three Delta 4 Heavy missions had previously been committed to ULA under an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle Phase 1 block buy negotiated in 2013 for 36 cores.

A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy National Reconnaissance Office mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral on 2020-08-27.

Two of the four remaining Delta 4 Heavy NRO missions will launch from Cape Canaveral and two will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

United Launch Alliance received a $467,500,000 Launch Vehicle Production Services contract covering three Delta 4 Heavy missions for the National Reconnaissance Office.

The Air Force previously procured five Delta 4 Heavy rockets for these missions under contracts awarded to ULA in 2017 and 2018.

The Air Force is buying the three Delta 4 Heavy missions to ensure the NRO can place very large satellites on orbit before 2024 while transitioning to new vehicles under the National Security Space Launch program starting in 2022.

United Launch Alliance has been planning a transition from the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 Heavy to the next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket powered by Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines.

United Launch Alliance launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite on a Delta 4 Heavy rocket on 2022-09-24 at 3:25 p.m. Pacific from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

A Delta 4 Heavy rocket was scheduled to launch the classified NROL-44 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

United Launch Alliance launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite on 2024-04-09 using the Delta 4 Heavy rocket in the vehicle’s final flight.

Five missions awarded to ULA under EELV Phase 1 will be launched over the next five years, including two Delta 4 Heavy launches for NROL-44 and NROL-82 and three Atlas 5 missions: NROL-101, AEHF-6, and AFSPC-7.

The National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-82 mission is planned to launch on a Delta 4 Heavy from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California in 2020.

The National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-44 mission is planned to launch on a Delta 4 Heavy from Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2020.

Under a 2018 Launch Vehicle Production Services contract, United Launch Alliance is building Delta 4 Heavy hardware for three National Reconnaissance Office missions and the contract is now worth $467,500,000 after a $149,000,000 modification in May 2020 and a $156,700,000 modification earlier in August 2020.

The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded United Launch Alliance a $149,000,000 contract modification on 2019-05-09 for a Delta 4 Heavy launch of the National Reconnaissance Office mission NROL-68.

The 2019-10-01 sole-source contract follows the Air Force awarding ULA its final contract for five Delta 4 Heavy missions one day earlier.