Head to head

Ariane 44L vs H-IIA

Two vehicles in the same payload class. Every figure below comes from the same two sources for both rockets, and a row appears only when both publish the input.

Payload to low Earth orbit

Relative

Ariane 44L: 10,200 kg

H-IIA: 10,000 kg

Side by side

9 comparable figures

The highlighted value wins the row. Rows where neither direction is better, like length or stage count, highlight nothing.

Metric	Ariane 44L	H-IIA
Flights flown	40	50
Success rate	97.5%	98%
Payload to LEO (kg)	10,200	10,000
Payload to GTO (kg)	4,950	4,100
Liftoff thrust (kN)	5,395	2,260
Length (m)	58.7	53
Diameter (m)	3.8	4
Launch mass (t)	484	285
Stages	2	2

Ariane 44L

Flight record

97.5% success rate39 of 40 flown · 1 failed

1989peak 2002 · 6 flights2003

Maiden flight 1989-06-05. Retired.

H-IIA

Flight record

98% success rate49 of 50 flown · 1 failed

2001peak 2017 · 6 flights2025

Maiden flight 2001-08-29. Retired.

Ariane 44L is built by Aérospatiale of France (company profile on Space Index).H-IIA is built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan (company profile on Space Index).

Full specifications and the complete launch history for each: Ariane 44L · H-IIA.

Specifications from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs, launch records from Space Index. Derived figures are computed here; see sources and method.