US Air Force selects Blue Origin and Anduril for rocket cargo delivery project: report

The U.S. Air Force has asked two more companies to explore how to deliver rocket-flown cargo to any point in the world within one hour, according to a media report.

Blue Origin, which launches brief suborbital missions for astronauts and cargo using its New Shepard rocket and is expanding into deep space launches with its New Glenn rocket, is one of the contractors selected. The other is Anduril Industries, which builds autonomous systems such as uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) as a defense-technology contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Blue Origin received $1.3 million and Anduril $1 million in August under an Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) program, manager Daniel Brown told SpaceNews in a statement published Sunday (Sept. 7). The program is called Rocket Experimentation for Global Agile Logistics (REGAL), and news about the awards first broke in late August in outlets such as TechCrunch.

Brown added Blue's award would examine how to alter its space vehicles for point-to-point transport. Blue did not comment on the award on X, but posted on Aug. 6 about a visit by Maj. Gen. Stephen G. Purdy. Purdy has numerous positions in the Air Force, including acting assistant secretary and service acquisition executive for space.

Anduril's award, Brown said, will be for "design and analysis to integrate multiple potential government payloads into a rocket cargo delivery container, or re-entry system." Anduril also did not post about REGAL, but an August press release from the company highlighted its ability to build solid rocket motors.

REGAL aims to use rockets as point-to-point space transportation for the newly renamed Department of Defense (DoD), now called the Department of War.

The program will be to "deliver DoD cargo anywhere on the planet in less than one hour through service-type contracts, similar to agreements DoD uses today with commercial airlines," a procurement description published in 2021 states. Some of the expected uses include "emergency resupply to restore loss of mission capability, humanitarian relief [and] disaster relief," the description adds.

AFRL chose to undertake the program after key changes in American private launch services in recent decades, contracting opportunity documents state: "The U.S. commercial market is building the largest rockets ever, at the lowest prices per pound ever, and with second stages able [to] reenter the atmosphere and be recovered for multiple uses. These advances in the U.S. commercial launch market fueled a new assessment of point-to-point space transportation for DoD logistics."

The REGAL award is a first for Blue Origin and Anduril, SpaceNews reported, although space companies have received similar ones before: Sierra Space received an award in October 2024, and Rocket Lab in May 2025. Blue Origin also signed a 2021 cooperative agreement with U.S. Transportation Command concerning "rocket-powered logistics," SpaceNews added.

Other point-to-point shipment contracts are being studied by the military. For example, Sierra — developing an uncrewed Dream Chaser spacecraft for International Space Station cargo missions — also signed an agreement with DoD transportation command in 2022.

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, has completed 34 crewed or uncrewed missions to space. The 35th launch, a transportation effort, was postponed several times in August — most recently due to an avionics issue.