SpaceX, a company that creates space launch materials for NASA, is suing the government over an Air Force deal with United Launch Alliance (ULA).

ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is being given contracts for U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) launches, without allowing other companies to bid for the job, as is common for government programs. The Air Force uses EELV for its national security programs.

SpaceX is suing to open these launches to competition, giving themselves and other companies an opportunity to gain contracts currently held by companies like ULA.

According to the SpaceX press release, each ULA launch costs taxpayers $400 million, four times as much as a SpaceX launch.

ULA also uses an engine sourced from Russia, a possible national security risk in light of current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has asked for a review of the use of the Russian engine.

Senator John McCain has also expressed concern about the lack of competition, sending letters to Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James and Department of Defense Inspector General Jon T. Rymer. In one of the letters, McCain claims that adding competition could save taxpayers up to $1 billion every year.

In a press conference announcing his plans to sue, SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk said “The national security launches should be put up for competition and they should not be awarded on a sole source basis. It just seems odd that, if our vehicle is good enough for NASA and supporting a $100 billion space station and good enough for launching NASA science satellites, for launching complex commercial geostationary satellites and really every satellite you can imagine, there’s no reason, or basis, for it not being capable of launching something quite simple like a GPS satellite.”