SpaceX received its first contract from the US military to launch a GPS satellite

SpaceX developer company received a contract worth $ 87.2 million from the US Air Force to launch a GPS satellite in May 2018. For SpaceX, this will be the first project for the Armed Forces since the company received permission to launch military satellites in 2015.

The SpaceX and Air Force contract is the first contract for more than 10 years, concluded by the military on a competitive basis. There is nothing surprising in the fact that SpaceX won the tender, as the company made a bid on an unopposed basis. Previously, only United Launch Alliance (ULA) , a subsidiary of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, had exclusive rights to launch military satellites. In November, ULA representatives said they would not participate in the tender, since their rocket would not be ready on time. The former vice-president of ULA also hinted that the company does not want to participate in the "race" of rates with SpaceX.

The GPS-3 satellite is only the first of nine Air Force contracts, for which the contractor was searched for on a tender basis, which means that SpaceX and ULA are now direct competitors. The ULA say they will fight for the next contract, according to theverge.
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“This contract to launch GPS-3 balances the success of the mission, meeting operational needs, reducing launch costs and restoring competition for space missions related to national defense,” said Lieutenant-General Samuel Greaves, head of the Air Force Space and Rocket Systems Center.

The problem with ULA is that SpaceX offers a much cheaper alternative for the Department of Defense. The cost of SpaceX rockets starts at $ 60 million, while, according to the company, the cost of launching the Atlas V ULA primary rocket is $ 164 million. If the low cost is a priority for the Air Force, then in the future SpaceX will be able to get more contracts.

Also yesterday, SpaceX representatives said that their Dragon spacecraft could go to Mars as early as 2018.