Comment The one-paragraph summary contrains several errors (Score 2) 80
The post contains several errors.
EELV was a program in the 1990s to develop modernized rockets to launching USAF payloads (not just 'spy' satellites). The program produced two new competing launch vehicle families: the Boeing Delta IV and the Lockheed-Martin Atlas V. Subsequently, these launch providers merged to form the United Launch Alliance (ULA) which has had a monopoly on USAF launches. ULA has racked up an impeccable reliability record, with something approaching 100 straight successes, but the price per launch has been high.
SpaceX wants to compete for that business with its much cheaper, but less well-proven, Falcon 9. But just around the time the Falcon 9 began to fly, the USAF signed a “block buy” agreement with ULA for several dozen rocket cores (the Heavy version of the Delta IV uses three cores, so the number of launches may be smaller). Only a smaller number of launches were left open for competitive bids, and that number was subsequently cut. SpaceX cried foul and sued the USAF. This is the suit which has been settled, with the settlement requiring the USAF to make a larger, but not publicly announced, number of launches open for competitive bidding.
SpaceX is the only plausible near-term competitor to ULA. I think Orbital Sciences announced plans to offer their Antares (the rocket that crashed on a Space Station resupply mission a few months ago, but they're out of it for a while at least. Being allowed to compete doesn't guarantee SpaceX will win any of the business, though. It's possible that the USAF will decide to stick with the tried-and-true rather than risk their very expensive, and sometimes national security critical payloads to the upstart. More likely, the price difference may be so large that it justifies the added risk, at least for some payloads. We'll have to wait and see what they do.
