A federal court has taken the fire out of a military satellite launch contract granted through an uncontested selection process earlier this year, on the grounds it may violate recent sanctions imposed on Russia on March 16 for its invasion of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

Last week, commercial space transport company SpaceX , or, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, announced a lawsuit against the United States Air Force intended to block a reported 36-launch national defense-related agreement awarded exclusively to United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between aeronautics industry giants Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company.

The United States Court of Federal Claims ruled that any dealings with NPO Energomash, the Russia-based supplier for ULA rockets, are forbidden by the fledgling transportation outfit until there are definitive statements received by the State, Treasury and Commerce departments that such contact would not "directly or indirectly contravene Executive Order 13,661," under which the sanctions were imposed, the court's decision read.

In its complaint, SpaceX argues that, first and foremost, the launch contract was handed to ULA without entertaining competitive bids, which "essentially blocks companies like SpaceX from competing for national security launches," SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said at a press briefing in Washington, D.C. last week.

The action also addressed the fact that ULA has been using RD-180 rockets for its U.S. government launches with the Atlas V launch vehicle, one of two employed in its space launch operations, manufactured by NPO Energomash, which is, in fact, a corporation wholly owned and operated by the Russian government.

The SpaceX action argued the purchase and use of NPO Energomash rockets is in violation of the sanctions President Obama slapped on the Russian government as well as key individuals in Russia over its aggressive actions in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.

Then, beyond questions about the appropriateness of ULA's supplier pipeline under the sanctions, "the ULA rockets are basically about four times more expensive than ours, so this contract is costing the U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars for no reason," said Musk during the original press conference.

Musk announced SpaceX would likely be able to fly military payloads for around $100 million apiece, about 75 percent less than the price the U.S. pays now for rides on ULA's Atlas and Delta rockets.

SpaceX has said it is in the process of getting its Falcon 9 rockets -- which are already used in missions the company flies for NASA -- certified to fly payloads for the U.S. military.

So far, the Air Force has certified one of three Falcon flights required before SpaceX can compete for military missions, according to Reuters.