- Part of an initiative to curb reliance on foreign-made rocket engines, the U.S. Air Force has awarded a total $2.3B in contracts to develop rocket launch systems for national security missions.
- The contracts go to Blue Origin's (BORGN) New Glenn, Northrop Grumman's (NYSE:NOC) OmegA and United Launch Alliance's (BA, LMT) Vulcan Centaur.
- SpaceX (SPACE), despite winning an initial development award in 2016, was absent from the deal.