Jane Edwards
A Northrop Grumman executive said the company will launch its OmegA rocket from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, SpaceNews reported Saturday.
The U.S. Air Force leases SLC-6 to United Launch Alliance for the company“™s Delta 4 Heavy rocket launches.
“Our plan is to use it on a non-interference basis as we modify the pad to accommodate OmegA,“ Kent Rominger, vice president and capture lead for Northrop“™s OmegA launch system, said of SLC-6 during a presentation at the 2019 International Astronautical Congress. “Modifications at SLC-6 are not as difficult as one might imagine.“
Northrop is one of the companies competing for the second phase of the Air Force“™s National Security Space Launch program, which is expected to be awarded in 2020.
Rominger said the company has begun production work on flight hardware and expects to fly OmegA“™s intermediate variant in 2021 and the heavy version in 2024.
