Vulcan Cleared for Military Missions

Cape Canaveral S.F.S., FL. – In a press release from United Launch Alliance (U.L.A.) dated March 26, 2025, it was announced that the twice flown Vulcan rocket has been certified for National Security Space Launch (NSSL) missions.

Image Credit:  Michael Howard - We Report Space

In a statement from U.L.A.: “Thank you to all our customer partners who have worked hand-in-hand with us throughout this comprehensive certification process. We are grateful for the collaboration and excited to reach this critical milestone in Vulcan development,” said Tory Bruno, ULA’s president and CEO. “Vulcan is uniquely designed to meet the challenging requirements demanded by an expanding spectrum of missions for U.S. national security space launches. Moreover, this next-generation rocket provides high performance and extreme accuracy while continuing to deliver to our customer’s most challenging and exotic orbits.”

Continuing his statement: “Vulcan’s Centaur upper stage is a high-velocity and maneuverable platform to address evolving on-orbit threats in this new space warfighting domain and will offer extreme on-orbit endurance and flexibility for complex orbital insertions to meet the changing landscape and requirements of our nation,” said Bruno.

Image Credit: Graham Smith - We Report Space

During the second certification flight in 2024, there was an anomaly with one of the solid rocket motors less than a minute into flight, however the Vulcan rocket compensated and was able to complete its portion of the mission.

Currently, there is no set date for the next flight of the Vulcan rocket, but it is believed to be no earlier than later this summer with the launch of the USSF-106 mission for the United States Military and the N.S.S.L.

The Vulcan rocket is a next generation rocket for U.L.A. and can fly in a variety of configurations with and without the addition of solid rocket motors to meet customer needs and flight parameters. 

Story By:  Michael Howard - We Report Space

Image Credits:  Michael Howard, Michael Seeley and Graham Smith for We Report Space