The H-IIA vehicle is an upgraded version of the H-II currently in service.  The H-IIA is intended to compete comercially on the world market.  In 1997, Hughes signed a contract for 10 H-IIA launches valued at approximately US$1 billion.  The H-IIA builds upon it's predecessor and incorporates a simplified design and manufacturing process as well as upgraded avionics and engines (LE-7A and LE-5B).  Although the core vehicle is very similar to the H-II, the new H-IIA uses new solid and liquid boosters to significantly improve payload performance.

The H-IIA comes in five variants.  The basic H2A202 configuration uses a core vehicle with two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB-A's) to place four metric tons into a 28.5 degree GTO orbit.  The H2A2022 and H2A2024 configurations add two and four Solid Strap-On Boosters (SSB's) respectively to increase GTO performance up to 4.5 metric tons.  Adding Liquid Strap-On Boosters (LRB's) to the basic H2A202 configuration creates the H2A212 (one LRB) and H2A222 (two LRB's) configurations which are capable of placing 7.5 and 9.5 metric tons into a GTO orbit.