Europe unites aerospace giants to build Starlink rival
Three leading European aerospace companies — Airbus, Thales, and Italy’s Leonardo — announced Thursday plans to merge their satellite operations, aiming to create a European rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband network, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The financial terms of the merger were not disclosed. The move comes as Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper race to deploy satellite networks that provide internet access to regions with limited connectivity.
The companies said the merger seeks to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy in space, covering critical areas such as telecommunications, global navigation, earth observation, science, exploration, and national security. The plan does not include space launchers, like Airbus’s Ariane rockets, which are not reusable compared to SpaceX’s Falcon rockets that carry Starlink satellites.
In parallel, the European Union is developing its own satellite constellation, IRIS2, expected to become operational by 2030. While IRIS2 will include just 300 satellites, it will focus on secure communications, according to European Space Agency director Josef Aschbacher.
Thales said a €100 million ($116 million) initial engineering contract for IRIS2 will allow it to halt planned job cuts in its space operations, highlighting both strategic and economic benefits of Europe’s satellite ambitions.
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