tl;dr – Aerospace and defense companies, Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales are teaming up for an ambitious project.
A bit of interesting news out of CNBC today. Airbus, Leonardo, Thales announced a joint venture aimed at forming a “leading European player in space [technology]”.
According to CNBC, “Airbus will be the majority owner of the new joint venture with a 35% stake, and will contribute its Space Systems and Space Digital businesses from its defense and space division.”
“Leonardo and Thales will each hold a 32.5% stake in the new company.”
The move comes at a time when “Europe has been looking for an alternative to Starlink, the satellite broadband service owned by Musk’s space exploration firm SpaceX that currently dominates the sector and has a vast presence across Europe.’ The war in Ukraine, and Starlink’s role in particular, has heightened concerns across the region for finding a European-based alternative.
Starlink has been very dominant in the space industry. Starlink, helmed by the often controversial and at the very least ‘mercurial’ Elon Musk, recently launched its 10,000th satellite.
Reports indicate that the new company could be operational by 2027 (it’s unclear if any sort of product would be ready then).
