{"id":490739,"date":"2026-02-26T02:44:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:44:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490739\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T02:44:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T02:44:06","slug":"space-force-pauses-national-security-launches-on-vulcan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/490739\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Force pauses national security launches on Vulcan"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFA WARFARE SYMPOSIUM \u2014 The Space Force is holding off on launching further national security payloads aboard United Launch Alliance\u2019s Vulcan<\/a> rocket until an anomaly observed during a recent military mission is resolved, according to a top service official.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to work through this anomaly until we launch again on Vulcan,\u201d Col. Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force\u2019s portfolio acquisition executive for assured access to space, said in a media roundtable here in Colorado at the Air Force Association\u2019s Warfare Symposium. \u201cUntil this anomaly is solved we will not be launching Vulcan missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Feb, 12, ULA launched a national security mission dubbed USSF-87 carrying two Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) <\/a>neighborhood watch satellites. <\/p>\n

Lt. Gen. Greg Gagnon, head of Space Force Combat Forces Command, disclosed today that the mission also included a first: a prototype of a highly maneuverable satellite to be operated by his delta responsible for orbital warfare, Mission Delta 9.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTheir job is working on their maneuvers \u2026 so that they can deliver offensive and defensive capabilities that are precise and not imprecise. So, they\u2019re working on driving that spacecraft in a way that we couldn\u2019t drive spacecraft before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the Vulcan successfully delivered its cargo to orbit, an anomaly was observed with one of its solid-rocket boosters. The problem had been observed on a previous launch as well, raising Space Force concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still in the initial phases of that investigation, so we\u2019ll continue to to work with the United Launch Alliance and their suppliers to make sure we\u2019ve got the right level of insight and understand where that investigation is headed. I don\u2019t have any details at this point,\u201d Zarybnisky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be a many-months process as we work through the exact technical issue that happened and the corrective actions we need to make sure, we need to take to make sure this doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

ULA is still officially a provider of launch for critical missions under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL)<\/a> program along with SpaceX. The company is currently slated for a series of NSSL missions this year \u2014 including the launch of the final satellite in the GPS III series, GPS III SV-10, that is currently planned for no later than the end of next month.<\/p>\n

Zarybnisky said that while there has not been a change to the manifest to switch the GPS flight from ULA to a SpaceX Falcon \u201cat this point,\u201d he is looking at various options should Vulcan not be cleared to lift off.<\/p>\n

The Vulcan\u2019s setback comes at a particularly inauspicious time for ULA, following the recent departure of long-time CEO Tory Bruno<\/a> and the company\u2019s hopes to bolster the heavy-lift rocket\u2019s launch cadence in 2026 to meet the missions already manifested by the military and commercial customers.<\/p>\n

Mark Peller, ULA\u2019s chief operating officer, told reporters on Feb. 10 that the firm is targeting between 16 and 18 launches this year. In a statement to Breaking Defense after publication of this report, a ULA spokesperson said the company is working with Northrop Grumman, the supplier of the Vulcan\u2019s rocket booster that experienced the anomaly, \u201cto establish an investigation team, comprised of experts across the industry. Until the team has reviewed the data, inspected the spent motor assemblies, and developed and implemented corrective actions, we will not fly another Vulcan mission.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFA WARFARE SYMPOSIUM \u2014 The Space Force is holding off on launching further national security payloads aboard United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[220771,225062,76938,79,193,11716,14716,19350],"class_list":{"0":"post-490739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-geosynchronous-space-situational-awareness-program","9":"tag-gps-iii","10":"tag-national-security-space-launch","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-space","13":"tag-space-force","14":"tag-united-launch-alliance","15":"tag-vulcan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}