Three European aerospace giants, Airbus, Thales and Leonardo, have reportedly agreed to form a new satellite company by 2027.
This is part of an effort to build a strong competitor to Elon Musk’s Starlink and strengthen Europe’s space sovereignty.
According to the initial agreement, the new entity will have around 25,000 employees across several sites in Europe and is expected to achieve annual revenue of around €6.5 billion.
According to the planned ownership structure, Airbus will hold 35% while Thales and Leonardo will each own 32.5%, with corporate control arranged jointly in a balanced governance model.
The combination will integrate the satellite construction and services operations of Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio, as well as Airbus’ space division and Leonardo and Thales’ space units.
The project, codenamed “Project Bromo,” is seen as emulating the model of cooperation of previous European space industry alliances such as the MBDA arms consortium, with the aim of increasing scale and competitiveness amid fierce competition from low-cost low-orbit satellite providers such as Starlink.
Although a framework agreement has been reached, the official announcement has had to be delayed for several days as it awaits the approval of the final round of information and clearance from European competition authorities.
