Orbital Sciences Corp. said the U.S. Air Force recently awarded the company a launch service contract involving two new small launch vehicles to serve the U.S. military’s need for responsive space launch capabilities.

The launch vehicles, which Orbital named Raptor-1 and Raptor-2, are designed to be air-launched. Raptor-1 is a winged, three-stage solid rocket vehicle carried to launch altitude and released from beneath a carrier aircraft. The Raptor-2 is air-launched from a C-17 military cargo and transport aircraft, using a parachute-based extraction system.

Orbital was awarded two contracts to develop technical documentation for the vehicles as the first step toward delivery of launch services under a $100 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract announced by the U.S. government last week.