The budget of the U.S. air force recently became available to all comers, so the ability to compare prices on launches from companies providing such services. It turned out that SpaceX have done great job and their prices differ from the prices of United Launch Alliance (ULA), which is owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The U.S. government pays ULA a fixed price for launching any rocket, whether Atlas V, Delta IV or Delta IV Heavy. In addition, the company paid additional contributions, which guarantee one hundred percent ready to launch in case of an emergency.
According to published on the website estimates the cost of launching one missile in the 2020 fiscal year will total 422 million us dollars, and next year, 424 million. In the past year, the U.S. air force has paid SpaceX for the launch of when only 83 million, and in the spring of 2017, SpaceX put into orbit another satellite for 96 million. The commercial launch of a Falcon 9 rocket costs about $ 65 million, but the military usually impose more severe requirements in terms of safety and security runs, so for them the price is usually higher. But even in that case the difference is obvious.
$300M cost diff between SpaceX and Boeing/Lockheed exceeds the avg value of the satellite, so flying with SpaceX means the satellite is basically free https://t.co/CaOulCf7ot
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 16, 2017
For this reason Elon Musk wrote on Twitter that with such quotations, the customer essentially receives the satellite for free, and the Executive Director of the ULA has admitted that the company cannot compete with SpaceX on launch costs.
Elon Musk quote on SpaceX: us satellites become free
Vyacheslav Larionov