Posted: Thu, Nov 20, 2003, 7:31 AM ET (1231 GMT)
The cost of the next group of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs) the Pentagon plans to buy is expected to rise by as much as 50 percent. Air Force Undersecretary Peter Teets said he expects the cost of the next batch of EELVs — the Atlas 5 and the Delta 4 — will rise between 20 and 50 percent. The Air Force plans to ask for bids for "Buy 3", a batch of over 20 EELV missions, early next year: it had expected those missions to cost about $2 billion, but now thinks it could cost up to $3 billion. Teets blamed a slump in the commercial launch sector for the rise: the Atlas 5 has attracted only a handful of commercial customers while Boeing withdrew the Delta 4 from the commercial market in July. One of the original goals of the EELV program in the 1990s was to decrease launch costs by 25 to 50 percent over existing vehicles, but that cost decrease was predicated in part on cost-sharing with the commercial sector. Teets, in testimony before a Senate committee, gave no timeline for lifting a launch contracts ban on Boeing that was put in place in July as part of a penalty for ethics violations.

Related Links:

•  Reuters article
•  Space News article (subscription required)