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May 1, 2020
Defense Primer: National Security Space Launch
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The National Security Space Launch (NSSL) is a U.S.
government program that enables acquisition of launch
services, aimed at ensuring continued access to space for
critical national security missions. The U.S. Air Force
oversaw NSSL's predecessor program, the Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), and awarded four
companies contracts to design a cost-effective launch
vehicle system. The Department of Defense (DOD)
acquisition strategy was to select one company to ensure
national security space (NSS) launches were affordable and
reliable. The EELV effort was prompted by significant
increases in launch costs, procurement concerns, and the
lack of competition among U.S. companies. Today, the
NSSL program's main priority is mission success. A
RAND study released April 2020 identified a magnitude of
risk associated with assured access to space. As Congress
continues its oversight of NSSL, it may consider examining
DOD's plan on the prioritization of the launch-related risks
to ensure continued access to space and 100% mission
success.
A major concern in Congress and elsewhere over U.S.
reliance on a Russian rocket engine (RD-180), used on one
of the primary national security rockets for critical national
security space launches, was exacerbated by the Russian
backlash over the 2014 U.S. sanctions against its actions in
Ukraine. Moreover, significant overall NSSL program cost
increases and unresolved questions over individual launch
costs, along with legal challenges to the Air Force contract
awards by space launch companies, prompted legislative
action. In the John S. McCain National Defense
Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019, Congress
directed the program to find non-Russian engines. It also
renamed the EELV to the NSSL program to reflect a wider
mission that would consider both reusable and expendable
launch vehicles.
The Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), together
with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), released a
request for proposals in May 2019 to award two domestic
launch service contracts. DOD plans to select two separate
space launch companies for phase two of the NSSL
program in the summer of 2020. The two companies
selected will be responsible for launching U.S. military and
intelligence satellites through 2027. NSS launch has been a
leading legislative priority in the defense bills over the past
few years, and with the increasing number of commercial
launch providers and more competition, it will likely
continue to be a legislative priority.
The origins of the NSSL program date back to 1995, after
years of concerns within the Air Force and space launch
community over increasing cost and decreasing confidence
in the continued reliability of national access to space. The
purpose of EELV was to provide the United States
affordable, reliable, and assured access to space with two
families of space launch vehicles. Initially only two
companies competed: Boeing produced the Delta IV launch
vehicle, and Lockheed Martin developed the Atlas V.
Overall, the program provided critical space lift capability
to support DOD and intelligence community satellites,
together known as NSS missions.
The EELV program evolved modestly in response to
changing circumstances, and the Air Force approved an
EELV acquisition strategy in November 2011, revising it in
2013. That strategy was designed to (1) sustain two major
independent rocket-powered launch vehicle families to
reduce the chance of launch interruptions and to ensure
reliable access to space; (2) license and stockpile the
Russian-made RD-180 heavy-lift rocket engine, a critical
component of the Atlas V; (3) pursue a block-buy
commitment to a number of launches through the end of the
decade to reduce launch costs; and (4) increase competition
to reduce overall launch costs. The Air Force and others
viewed the overall EELV acquisition strategy as having
successfully reduced launch costs while demonstrating
highly reliable access to space for DOD and the intelligence
community.
NSSL Pro'am Tday
The United States Space Force, the sixth branch of the
Armed Forces, established on December 20, 2019, is now
responsible for the military space launch mission. The
NSSL program is managed by the Launch Enterprise
Systems Directorate of SMC, Los Angeles Air Force Base.
The NSSL program consists of four launch vehicles: Atlas
V and Delta IV Heavy (both provided by United Launch
Alliance [ULA] of Denver, CO) and Falcon 9 and Falcon
Heavy (both provided by Space Exploration Technologies
Corporation [SpaceX] of Hawthorne, CA).
NSS launches support the Space Force, Navy, and NRO.
More specifically, the Atlas V has launched commercial,
civil, and NSS satellites into orbit, including commercial
and military communications satellites, lunar and other
planetary orbiters and probes, earth observation and
military research satellites, weather satellites, missile
warning and NRO reconnaissance satellites, a tracking and
data relay satellite, and the X-37B space plane (a military
orbital test vehicle). The Delta IV has launched commercial
and military communications and weather satellites and
missile warning and NRO satellites.
DOD expects to achieve cost saving through acquisitions
and operability improvements through use of common
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