In article . com,
Ed Kyle wrote:
A cynic would say that Delta II's departure from USAF service has
been predicted before...

By allowing two EELVs, the Air Force has been
forced to use them. To fund them (and it's
costing a lot more than originally planned to fund
them), it appears that they've been forced to
divest other space launch assets.

The big question, though, is whether the Air Force will subsidize EELV
launch services centrally for all military projects.

An EELV still *costs more* than a Delta II -- quite a bit more, like
double or worse -- and a lot of projects even within the USAF will balk at
being forced to buy overpriced launches out of *their* budgets just to
keep the EELV mafia happy. To say nothing of what the Navy will think.
Without central subsidies, there is going to be a lot of pressure to
continue to allow Delta-II-sized birds to fly on Delta II.

Just because the EELV bureaucrats have gotten high-level blessing for a
legislated monopoly (well, duopoly) doesn't mean the rank and file will
simply salute and comply. That's not the way it works in practice.

Things might be different if the Light EELV configurations, which were
meant more or less as Delta II replacements, hadn't disappeared.
--
"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
-- George Herbert |