https://crsreports.congress.gov
Updated November 22, 2022
Defense Primer: National Security Space Launch
Introduction
The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) Launch
Enterprise consists of two programs: National Security
Space Launch (NSSL), which acquires launch services for
heavy and medium lift class national security satellites and
other assets, and the Rocket System Launch Program,
which “provides procurement of small launch and rideshare
services, suborbital targets and experimental flights, and
restoration of excess ballistic missile assets for reuse.” This
In Focus addresses only the first of these two programs.
Congress has consistently demonstrated interest in
conducting oversight of both the scope and execution of the
NSSL program and is additionally involved in program
authorization and appropriation.
Background
National security space (NSS) launches support the military
and intelligence community. NSS launches have included
commercial and military communications satellites—
including Global Positioning System satellites, lunar and
other planetary orbiters and probes, earth observation and
military research satellites, weather satellites, missile
warning and reconnaissance satellites, a tracking and data
relay satellite, and the X-37B space plane (a military orbital
test vehicle).
NSSL’s predecessor in NSS launch services, the Evolved
Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, was
established in August 1994 with President Clinton’s signing
of the National Space Transportation Policy (NSTC-4).
NSTC-4 assigned DOD with the responsibility for
developing medium and heavy launch vehicles and
“improving reliability, operability, responsiveness, and
safety.” NSTC-4 additionally directed DOD and the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration to
“combine their expendable launch service requirements into
single procurements when such procurements would result
in cost savings or are otherwise advantageous to the
government.”
Initially, two companies competed for EELV contracts:
Boeing, which produced the Delta IV launch vehicle, and
Lockheed Martin, which produced the Atlas V. In 2006,
Boeing and Lockheed Martin formed a joint venture,
United Launch Alliance (ULA), which combined the
companies’ mission management and support, engineering,
vehicle production, and other assets. ULA was the sole U.S.
provider of launch services from its establishment in 2006
to 2015, when DOD certified Space Exploration
Technologies Corporation’s (SpaceX) Falcon 9. (DOD
certified a second SpaceX launch vehicle, Falcon Heavy,
for NSS launch services in 2019.)
In response to rising program costs, the Air Force approved
a new 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.
Congress, in the FY2019 National Defense Authorization
Act ([NDAA]; P.L. 115-232), renamed the EELV program
to the NSSL program to reflect a wider mission that would
consider not only expendable launch vehicles but also
reusable launch vehicles. (Both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
are partially reusable launch vehicles.)
NSSL Program Today
The U.S. Space Force, the sixth branch of the Armed
Forces, is responsible for the military space launch mission.
The NSSL program is managed by the Space Systems
Command, located at Los Angeles Air Force Base. DOD
requested $1.2 billion for NSSL in FY2023.
According to the FY2021 Selected Acquisition Report
(SAR),
the NSSL system includes launch vehicles, launch
capability, a standard payload interface, support
systems, mission integration (includes mission
unique requirements), flight instrumentation and
range interfaces, special studies, post-flight data
evaluation and analysis, mission assurance,
infrastructure, critical component engineering,
Government Mission Director support,
system/process and reliability improvements,
training, and other technical support. The system
also includes launch site operations activities,
activities in support of assured access, systems
integration and tests, and other related support
activities.
DOD expects to achieve cost saving through acquisitions
and operability improvements through use of common
components and infrastructure, standard payload interfaces,
standardized launch pads, and reductions in on-pad
processing. To improve acquisitions, the NSSL program
offers block buys of launch vehicles and competition
between certified providers. The competitions are
conducted through two contract vehicles: Launch Service
Agreements (LSA) and Launch Service Procurement (LSP)
awards.
LSAs are a set of Air Force Research, Development, Test,
and Evaluation awards intended to facilitate the
development and certification of NSSL vehicles. DOD
