The certification followed two successful flight demonstrations and completion of 52 criteria, including over 180 individual tasks, 60 payload interface verifications, and 114 hardware and software audits. The process began in 2016 through an agreement with the U.S. Air Force, in line with the New Entrant Certification Guide.
“Thank you to all our customer partners who have worked hand-in-hand with us throughout this comprehensive certification process,” said Tory Bruno, ULA 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.”
Vulcan’s inaugural launch marked the beginning of what ULA describes as a new era in space operations, with a design focused on performance, precision, and mission flexibility. It includes the Centaur V upper stage, noted for its high endurance and ability to conduct complex orbital manoeuvres.
“Vulcan’s Centaur upper stage is a high-velocity and manoeuvrable platform to address evolving on-orbit threats in this new space warfighting domain,” said Bruno. “It will offer extreme on-orbit endurance and flexibility for complex orbital insertions to meet the changing landscape and requirements of our nation.”
General Panzenhagen, Program Executive Officer for Assured Access to Space, praised the cooperation between teams: “The SSC and ULA teams have worked together extremely closely, and certification of this launch system is a direct result of their focus, dedication, and teamwork.”
Vulcan is available in four configurations using zero to six solid rocket boosters, offering flexibility to support a wide range of mission profiles. It is powered by two BE-4 engines, the most powerful liquefied natural gas-fuelled engines flown to date, replacing the previously used Russian RD-180 engines.
The certification of Vulcan ensures that future U.S. national security missions can be supported by a domestically produced, next-generation launch system. This development aligns with U.S. strategic goals to reduce dependency on foreign propulsion systems amid growing competition in space from nations such as China and Russia.
