[7] The Federal Trade Commission ultimately granted ULA anti-trust clearance, prioritizing national security access to space over potential competition concerns.

ULA's reliance on government funding for launch readiness, including maintaining multiple launchpads and rocket variants, became a point of discussion, particularly as the EELV program experienced a cost breach in 2012.

[17] In a leadership change at ULA in August 2014, Tory Bruno assumed the CEO position, marking a new strategic direction for the company.

[18] Under Bruno's leadership, ULA was under pressure to reduce costs to better compete with SpaceX and its partially reusable rockets, replace its Russian-made RD-180 with more efficient western-made engines,[19] and introduce a next-generation launch vehicle.

[20][21] After the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Congress passed a law in 2016 that prohibited the military from procuring additional launch services on vehicles that use the RD-180 engine after 2022.

"[27] The Delta family of rockets was retired in early 2024, having been replaced in the market by the SpaceX's Falcon Heavy, which was more powerful, less expensive, and faster to build, leading ULA to lose all commercial contracts.

[3] ULA planned an orderly retirement and had procured and had in hand 100 of the engines to continue building Atlas V as it developed a replacement rocket.

[31] The Vulcan Centaur is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by ULA integrating technology from both its prior Atlas and Delta rocket families along with advancements.

ULA is investigating a way to partially reuse its launch vehicles with the Sensible Modular Autonomous Return Technology (SMART) system.

This system envisions jettisoning the BE-4 engines and avionics as a single unit which would be protected by an inflatable heat shield during its descent back to Earth.

After being slowed by parachutes and splashing down in the ocean, the heat shield would double as a raft, and the engines and avionics module would be retrieved for refurbishment.

[43] ULA completed a second test flight, named Cert-2, of the Vulcan Centaur on the morning of October 4, 2024 at Cape Canaveral.

The Space Force will examine the flight data to determine if Vulcan Centaur will be certified for national security missions.

The first stage, named the Common Core Booster, uses a single Russian-made RD-180 engine, fueled by kerosene and liquid oxygen.

Notably, Starliner missions use a unique Atlas V configuration: two solid rocket boosters, no payload fairing, and a dual-engine Centaur second stage for a shallower launch profile and reduced crew G-forces.

[54][55] A nearly-complete Delta II, made from flight-qualified spare parts, is displayed in its 7320-10 configuration in the rocket garden at Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.

[58][59] The Delta IV was originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space & Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, and became a ULA product in 2006.

[60][54][61] Delta IV had two main versions, which allowed the family to accommodate a range of payload sizes and masses; models includes Medium, which had four configurations, and the Heavy.

The first launch conducted by ULA was a Delta II from Vandenberg Space Force Base on 14 December 2006,[72] carrying the satellite USA-193 for the National Reconnaissance Office.

[73][74][75][76] The satellite failed shortly after launch and was intentionally destroyed on 21 February 2008, by an SM-3 missile that was fired from the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Lake Erie.

[74] On June 15, 2007, the engine in the Centaur upper stage of a ULA-launched Atlas V shut down early, leaving its payload – a pair of NROL-30 ocean surveillance satellites – in a lower than intended orbit.

[74][87] The Atlas launches carried the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS mission as part of the Lunar Precursor Robotic Program, which was later intentionally crashed into the Moon and found the existence of water;[88] other 2009 Atlas V launches in included Intelsat 14, WGS-2,[81] PAN, and a weather satellite as part of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP).

[81][74] In 2010, Atlas V launches deployed the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the first Boeing X-37B, the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite, and the NROL-41.

[74][92] The Delta II launches placed the SAC-D and Suomi NPP satellites into orbit,[93] as well as two spacecraft associated with NASA's GRAIL lunar mission.

[147] In 2020, an Atlas V carried the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, an international collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA to provide a new global view of the Sun.

[148] In March 2020, an Atlas V also launched Advanced Extremely High Frequency 6 (AEHF-6), the first U.S. Space Force National Security Mission.

[152] In November 2020, ULA launched NROL-101, a top secret spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, on board their Atlas V in a 531 configuration.

[166][167] ULA's headquarters in Centennial, Colorado is responsible for program management, rocket engineering, testing, and launch support functions.

[171] The Spaceflight Processing Operations Center (SPOC), located near Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41 is used to construct the mobile launcher platform (MLP) for the Vulcan Centaur.

[173] SPOC was formerly known as the Solid Motor Assembly and Readiness Facility (SMARF) during its support of the Titan IVB launch vehicle; it was renamed during a ceremony in October 2019.