There is little evidence the Vulkan will cost less than the Atlas V, since it’s a higher capacity launch system with a highly capable but expensive second stage

There is little evidence the Vulkan will cost less than the Atlas V, since it’s a higher capacity launch system with a highly capable but expensive second stage. It’s going to be about the same as an Atlas V & Falcon Heavy, but much cheaper than a Delta IV Heavy. It’s payload to LEO are about 20% higher than a Falcon 9 and about half that of a Falcon Heavy, but it’s payload to GTO/GEO are close to the Falcon Heavy. A commercial contract Atlas V is roughly $50M more than a Falcon 9, but government contracts have a lot of more expensive handling/launch requirements that can easily double the cost. It’s likely the difference is not $100M more, but it’s still going to be easy more than $20M.