"Dholmes" wrote in message news:

Delta II seems booked solid for the next several years.
It has no direct competitor in its weight class the closest are 1/2 or twice
its size. The only rocket that is even close is the Delta 4 Lite if it ever
flies.

The currently available Delta II series itself covers a 2X payload
mass range, i.e., a 7920H has twice the capability of a 7320.

The proposed LM Athena 3 was close to 7320 capability, but it's only a
paper rocket now. There were some posts recently about refurbishing
additional Titan 2 ICBM's which would also cover the 7320 capability.
So there *could* be more than one bidder for new NASA Med-Lite launch
services. Tsyklon, Russian ex-ICBM's, and Vega (which is just paper
at this point) also fit in the range, but they're outside of the US.

I am not sure about this, but it appears to me that Navstar IIF and
DMSP 5D could have used 7925 for launch. Instead, they are using
EELV's. An EELV program goal was to reduce launch cost to less than
50% of heritage LV's, so maybe they have reached that goal and a Delta
4M or Atlas V 401 is as cheap to buy as a 7925. That would allow
phasing out the Delta II 7900 LV's.