
A new contract highlights the difference between “new” and “old” space - OrwellianChild
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/the-us-military-is-still-paying-a-spacex-competitor-for-rocket-upgrades/
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anovikov
ELC contract mentioned ($800M a year just to maintain capability) expires in
2019 and probability of its extension is exactly zero. So at least part of the
problem will go away.

ULA being 2x more expensive (but not 3x+ as now, with the ELC annual payments
removed), for its much higher reliability, given the enormous cost of the
government payloads, sounds like a fair deal.

Early cancellation of ELC was under serious discussion in mid-2016 and it
would have most certainly been done already if not Amos-6 accident which
raised serious concerns about SpaceX's quality culture.

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OrwellianChild
TL;DR: ULA just got a $28M government contract to upgrade rocket avionics
within two years for work that has already been completed and flown.

