Blue Origin tests one of the BE-4 rocket engines the company is developing to launch its New Glenn rocket. Blue Origin | gif by @thesheetztweetz

WASHINGTON — Billions of dollars in contracts are at the finish line, but there's a catch: Only half of this race's runners will be allowed to cross it. That's a quickly approaching scenario in the United States military's current rocket launch acquisition process, which features billionaires' space projects going toe-to-toe with defense contracting giants. But it's a situation that Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, wants to change. That's in part because the 19-year-old company risks losing out on valuable launch contracts, faced with stiff competition from incumbent powerhouse United Launch Alliance, the rapidly advancing SpaceX and military manufacturer Northrop Grumman. In a meeting with reporters on Tuesday, Blue Origin laid out its view of needed adjustments to the government's approach when buying rocket launches. "The important element we're trying to highlight within ... the broader Air Force process is that there is a regular discounting of the commercial market that is a key factor in [United States] launch vehicle policy," Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith told CNBC after the briefing. Last month, the Air Force received proposals for Launch Service Procurement from four companies. LSP represents a new method for the Air Force to dole out nearly three dozen launch contracts, each on average likely worth over $100 million, with launches scheduled over a five-year period from 2022 to 2026. The four companies that submitted proposals — ULA , SpaceX, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman — are building some of the largest and most powerful rockets in the world. For Blue Origin, that comes in the form of its New Glenn system, a towering rocket named after John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth.

Artist rendering of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. Blue Origin

New Glenn is designed to be reused, because the rocket would land upright after a launch, making it hypothetically capable of launching quickly and cost effectively. Both were factors that Blue Origin says are understated by the military in importance.

Four big rockets but only two big winners

Blue Origin thinks the military should help further competition between rocket companies by allowing more than two companies to win the contracts. LSP would see the Air Force pick two of the four companies to launch as many as 34 national security missions, with one getting 60% of the contracts and the other getting 40%. By choosing just two winners, the Air Force is limiting competition rather than aiding it, Blue Origin contends. Smith went so far as to use SpaceX as an example of how, when the company was allowed to compete, its bids helped lower the price of launches. "The commercial market actually drives competition, drives innovation," Smith said. "We saw that when SpaceX began winning share of national security launches in 2014. Studies have shown that dropped pricing as much as 40%." Blue Origin also provided a recently completed study on the market for large rockets like New Glenn, from an "independent, global management consulting firm." Source: Blue Origin The study looked specifically at the past decade of launches and forecast possible trajectories for the market in the decade ahead. While the base case (46 launches in the year 2030) is nearly half that of the growth case (82 launches), the study found that the strength of the commercial market for large rockets was stronger than the U.S. government currently forecasts. "In either scenario, the forecasted size of the addressable launch market over the next decade is higher than the historical average," the study said.

Surviving without more Air Force money