Which engine (other than BE-4 and Raptor) is the other 'orbital class re-usable engine' that you speak of? The newly constructed RS-25 that's going to be produced in the SLS program is not reusable (lookup RS-25E).
Ah, yes. I kind of looked over that engine. Oops...
I overlooked it mostly because the Merlin engine uses RP-1, and therefore has limited reuse life due to soot buildup in the engine (unless they've solved that problem). I also suspect that the Merlin engine only has limited time left as (when) SpaceX transitions to Starship.
Anyone that wants to order a reusable RS-25 can have Aerojet Rocketdyne configure and manufacture it that way. See also the AR-22 variant used on the ill-fated DARPA XSP program.
The real issue with that engine isn't its reusability, it's that the industry has learned a lot about rocket engine design, operation, and manufacturing since the RS-25 was developed. That's reflected in the engines available from the likes of Blue Origin and SpaceX. No knock on the RS-25 - it stands as a watershed achievement for humanity in the engineering of thermodynamic systems.
Though calling the SpaceX engines "available" needs the caveat that SpaceX will not make them available outside of SpaceX.
Weren't some of them refurbs? As in, shuttle hardware that was designed to be reusable and was reused is now planned to be unceremoniously dumped in the ocean?
In any case, even if the discardables are all new, it's a shameful step back. I am so glad they have competition now.
Good point! I suspect RocketLab will recover and reuse Electron before Blue Origin recovers and reuses New Glenn. RocketLab plans to test recovery (Ballute and then guided parachute until splashdown, not yet helicopter although they have had successful helicopter recovery tests of mockups) on the 17th Electron launch (3 launches from now), which is planned for this year.
