ULA Wants to Build Its ‘Dangerous’ Rocket to Protect US Assets in Space

The 200-foot Vulcan Centaur rocket can do more than launch satellites into orbit. As the rocket awaits approval to launch a military payload, United Launch Alliance (ULA) suggests that the Vulcan could also be used to deter space adversaries and protect US assets along the way.

At the Spacepower conference held earlier this month, ULA CEO Tory Bruno to be revealed that they had other ways of driving the cargo vehicle, SpaceNews report. Bruno’s idea involves using the rocket’s upper stage as a “space shuttle” to thwart US Space Force attacks in space. “Our vision is the ability to have a platform that is faster, longer, and, if necessary, more dangerous,” he said at the conference. “What I’ve been working on is a rocket that works in space.”

Well, that’s an idea. The 202-foot (61.6 m) Vulcan Centaur is a heavy-lift vehicle that began production in 2006. The rocket borrowed components from ULA’s Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, and finally launched in January. 8, to initiate Astrobotic’s Peregrine flies straight to the Moon. The first flight of the rocket was pre-arranged will take place in 2019, but Vulcan has encountered a number of problems and issues that have delayed its big day.

Vulcan Centaur is critical to the US commercial and national defense industry. With its Vulcan rocket, ULA hopes to compete with industry favorite SpaceX. The US military has grown very dependent on SpaceX to launch its payload orbiter, a market segment that was dominated by ULA.

However, Vulcan is not ready to launch military payloads. The Rocket did the second aircraft certification in October, but a ULA passenger car hit a power line. Following the nominal lift, the rocket knowledgeable story about 35 seconds after the installation, when a bunch of things suddenly seemed to come out of one of its two boosters.

The main purpose of the Cert-2 mission was for the US Space Force to approve the Vulcan for national security missions, the rocket was supposed to carry US military cargo to orbit this year. A botched flight has delayed the launch of the rocket.

Bruno’s latest proposal to turn the rocket into a space hero could be a disappointment as ULA continues to pursue its biggest competitor, SpaceX. During the meeting, the CEO of ULA said that the upper part of the Vulcan could be upgraded to act as an endurance vehicle that can operate in space and quickly respond to incoming threats.

“We know the Chinese will follow us into space,” Bruno said, according to SpaceNews. “If we see an attack happening where the Chinese stock is days or a week closer to what we care about, we have something we can go to within hours and disrupt the attack before it starts.”

Mentioning China’s dominance in space is one way to get people behind your plan. However, Bruno’s comments reflect a major concern that the world’s aviation industry and business community face: the world is heading towards a future of war where an all-out war may be inevitable.