The U.S. Air Force officially authorized production of the first EELV launch mission July 11, mobilizing The Boeing Co.’s [BA] Delta 4 officials into high gear. A Delta 4 Medium rocket is slated to blast off in May 2002 carrying with it components of the Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS).

“As of this week, we have completed 77 percent of our development program,” Mike Kennedy, EELV/Delta 4 vice president, told SPACE BUSINESS NEWS. “In addition, we are finishing up our key facilities in Mississippi and at the Cape.”

With these significant milestones reached, the mission services team has now begun working with the DSCS program to successfully integrate the bird and fulfill the launch requirements.

“We are working on the final requirement documentation now that should be completed in three or four weeks,” said Tom Alexiou, mission service integrated product team lead.

The DSCS program is a vital link for the U.S. military in times of conflict. The system is primarily used for high-priority communication, such as the exchange of wartime information between defense officials and battlefield commanders. The military also uses the system to transmit space operations and early warning data to various users.

Likewise, DSCS users operate on the ground, at sea or in the air. Members of the Air Force Space Command units and the 50th Space Wing’s 3rd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., provide satellite bus command and control for all DSCS satellites.

As mission members finalize the payload integration requirements, Delta 4 rocket engineers are double-checking the launcher’s operations specs to make sure Boeing’s next generation launcher will perform properly once launched.

“Another key thing we are working on in the next couple of months is to perform hot firing tests of the new first stage engine,” Kennedy added.

In October of 1998, the U.S. Air Force awarded 19 of the initial 28 EELV missions to Boeing. The remaining nine went to Lockheed Martin Co. [LMT] until recently when the military announced it would not fund Lockheed’s EELV developments