In other news, Blue Origin actually admitted recently that they won't have a New Glenn launch article until Q4 of 2022. Which, everyone knows, really means H1 of 2023 if they're lucky.
They're also constantly shifting their deliverable date of BE-4 engines that they are selling to ULA for ULA's new Vulcan rocket, to the right. What was supposed to be Q3 of 2020 (and 2019, and 2018, before that) is now summer of 2021. ULA intends to try to fly a Vulcan by Q4 of 2021. They have a ground support fitment test article out at the Cape right now.
Vulcan is supposed to be configured with two BE-4 engines on its first stage and a variable number of solid rocket motors much like its predecessor the Atlas V. Aerojet Rocketdyne lost in competitive bidding between Blue Origin and AR, when submitting engine designs for ULA's new generation rocket. Since then, BO's delivery schedule has slid to the right by years. Lockheed-Martin is looking at acquiring AR. AR was bidding a kerosene based engine called the AR-1 that has since been shelved. The AR-1 was designed specifically to replace the Atlas V RD-180 engine which is actually provided by Russia's Roskosmos. The RD-180 puts out about 4 meganewtons. Two AR-1 engines put out about 4.4 meganewtons. Two BE-4 engines put out about 4.8 meganewtons.
If LockMart acquires AR, and BO takes longer to deliver on the BE-4 deliverables, watch for pressure to mount on ULA to dramatically reconfigure Vulcan (probably a complete ditch of the vehicle) and focus on the AR-1 as a first stage engine solution. Or use AR-1 as a basis of a new vehicle that focuses on reusability, since ULA has nothing like that and their noises regarding SMART reuse are a joke.
