One of the largest aerospace deals in EU history, named after an Indonesian volcano, Project Bromo is a direct challenge to Elon Musk’s venture Starlink, and Europe’s most ambitious effort to reclaim its role in the fast evolving global space economy. The deal is a €6.5 billion venture projected to employ around 25,000 people across Europe, and represents the EU’s last serious attempt to catch up in the “New Space” race, a market projected to reach $1 trillion globally by 2040.
Why Europe Is Teaming Up
Announced on October 23 2025, Airbus and Leonardo and Thales, European aerospace giants, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to merge their major space operations into a new, yet unnamed company. Europe, inspired by MBDA’s success (generating €4.9 billion in revenue in 2024, record backlog of €37 billion and order intake at a new record total of €13.8 billion) (the missile manufacturer jointly owned by Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo), has the goal of regaining ground against rivals like Elon Musk’s venture Starlink, which has reshaped the space industry.
Satellites transmit data for communication, navigation or surveillance. The main focus of the joint venture is on communication satellites. Specifically, low earth orbit ones that provide high speed internet or secure links for governments and militaries, which are becoming critical to global connectivity and defense readiness. The satellite communications market is rapidly expanding. Analysts forecast that the “New Space” economy will exceed $1 trillion by 2040, driven by demand for data, cloud services, and global broadband. The United States currently leads this race with SpaceX and Starlink followed by Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin (United Launch Alliance). Such merger represents not just an industrial realignment but a geostrategic necessity, intended to restore Europe's competitiveness and autonomy in the global satellite economy.
The Threat: Starlink and the U.S. Lead
Starlink, the U.S. network owned by SpaceX, consists of over 6,000 active satellites orbiting about 550 km above Earth, representing the largest satellite network ever built, designed, manufactured, and launched entirely in-house. Using Starlink for tactical communications, intelligence sharing, and operational logistics, this level of integration between industry and national defense gives Washington not just a commercial advantage, but a strategic one, positioning the United States as the world’s de facto leader in orbital communications. This dominance is projected in market projections as the U.S. satellite communications market is forecast to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) ~10.96% over 2025-2030. By contrast, Europe’s reliance on foreign satellite systems exposes it to political and security vulnerabilities, which is an issue the EU has become increasingly unwilling to tolerate.
Europe's response: The IRIS framework
This project primarily addresses growing concerns of Europe depending on American technology for communications, launch market disruption by SpaceX, alongside a push from the European Union to create its own safe and independent satellite systems under the EU secure connectivity/ IRIS framework.
In March 2023, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/588, establishing the Union Secure Connectivity Programme (2023-2027) to deliver IRIS (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satelllite) a multi orbit secure connectivity system with first services targeted by 2027, which focuses on reliable connections, fast data transfer, and protected communications for governments. Essentially, this regulation anchors the political imperative for European Space sovereignty, ensuring that countries owning their own networks would be able to control their own flow of data.
The move toward unified efforts has been gradual. During 2023 and 2024, companies in Europe’s space sector alongside those in telecommunications formed teams to compete for the IRIS project. Later in 2024, the Commission selected SpaceRISE, a group led by SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, with Airbus Defence and Space along with Thales Alenia Space as key partners. This demonstrated considerable joint goals while highlighting that further merging within the industry is essential for success.
Strategic Purpose and Objectives
The joint venture is seen as an industrial answer to SpaceX’s Starlink network effect as they are setting new costs and service benchmarks. With more than 2 million customers and over 4,000 operational satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation and Starlink reporting ~50% reduction in production costs reflects the formidable benchmark competitors are striving to match. They aim to build a similar product, leveraging their combined production power, communication technology alongside funding, creating a unified European space champion that can design, build, and operate satellites under one coordinated structure. Similar to how Space X and Starlink operate as a vertically integrated ecosystem.
The new company will manufacture satellites for Europe’s upcoming IRIS constellation, the EU’s main project to build a secure communications network in orbit by 2030. Beyond serving EU institutions, the joint venture also reflects Europe’s push for strategic independence and defense autonomy, particularly for governments, militaries, and strategic sectors.
By owning their own satellite network, Europe gains control over its data flows and communications infrastructure. From a defense and security point of view, such a network enables encrypted military and intelligence communications, allowing the EU and its allies to operate independently from foreign owned systems in times of crisis.
From the capital markets perspective, this joint venture is a policy backed investment vehicle, as by merging resources Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales aim to create economies of scale that can compete globally and attract private investors alongside public funding from the European Defence Fund and the IRIS programme. The EDF contributes €7.3 billion, with €2.7 billion for research and €5.3 billion for capability development, while the IRIS programme adds a further €10.6 billion over 12 years through its partnership with the SpaceRISE consortium, demonstrating Europe’s substantial financial commitment to sovereign space and defence infrastructure.
If successful, the venture could reignite Europe’s high tech innovation, reinforce its digital and defense independence, and attract new investment across the aerospace and telecom industries.
Announced on October 23 2025, Airbus and Leonardo and Thales, European aerospace giants, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to merge their major space operations into a new, yet unnamed company. Europe, inspired by MBDA’s success (generating €4.9 billion in revenue in 2024, record backlog of €37 billion and order intake at a new record total of €13.8 billion) (the missile manufacturer jointly owned by Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo), has the goal of regaining ground against rivals like Elon Musk’s venture Starlink, which has reshaped the space industry.
Satellites transmit data for communication, navigation or surveillance. The main focus of the joint venture is on communication satellites. Specifically, low earth orbit ones that provide high speed internet or secure links for governments and militaries, which are becoming critical to global connectivity and defense readiness. The satellite communications market is rapidly expanding. Analysts forecast that the “New Space” economy will exceed $1 trillion by 2040, driven by demand for data, cloud services, and global broadband. The United States currently leads this race with SpaceX and Starlink followed by Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin (United Launch Alliance). Such merger represents not just an industrial realignment but a geostrategic necessity, intended to restore Europe's competitiveness and autonomy in the global satellite economy.
The Threat: Starlink and the U.S. Lead
Starlink, the U.S. network owned by SpaceX, consists of over 6,000 active satellites orbiting about 550 km above Earth, representing the largest satellite network ever built, designed, manufactured, and launched entirely in-house. Using Starlink for tactical communications, intelligence sharing, and operational logistics, this level of integration between industry and national defense gives Washington not just a commercial advantage, but a strategic one, positioning the United States as the world’s de facto leader in orbital communications. This dominance is projected in market projections as the U.S. satellite communications market is forecast to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) ~10.96% over 2025-2030. By contrast, Europe’s reliance on foreign satellite systems exposes it to political and security vulnerabilities, which is an issue the EU has become increasingly unwilling to tolerate.
Europe's response: The IRIS framework
This project primarily addresses growing concerns of Europe depending on American technology for communications, launch market disruption by SpaceX, alongside a push from the European Union to create its own safe and independent satellite systems under the EU secure connectivity/ IRIS framework.
In March 2023, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2023/588, establishing the Union Secure Connectivity Programme (2023-2027) to deliver IRIS (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satelllite) a multi orbit secure connectivity system with first services targeted by 2027, which focuses on reliable connections, fast data transfer, and protected communications for governments. Essentially, this regulation anchors the political imperative for European Space sovereignty, ensuring that countries owning their own networks would be able to control their own flow of data.
The move toward unified efforts has been gradual. During 2023 and 2024, companies in Europe’s space sector alongside those in telecommunications formed teams to compete for the IRIS project. Later in 2024, the Commission selected SpaceRISE, a group led by SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, with Airbus Defence and Space along with Thales Alenia Space as key partners. This demonstrated considerable joint goals while highlighting that further merging within the industry is essential for success.
Strategic Purpose and Objectives
The joint venture is seen as an industrial answer to SpaceX’s Starlink network effect as they are setting new costs and service benchmarks. With more than 2 million customers and over 4,000 operational satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation and Starlink reporting ~50% reduction in production costs reflects the formidable benchmark competitors are striving to match. They aim to build a similar product, leveraging their combined production power, communication technology alongside funding, creating a unified European space champion that can design, build, and operate satellites under one coordinated structure. Similar to how Space X and Starlink operate as a vertically integrated ecosystem.
The new company will manufacture satellites for Europe’s upcoming IRIS constellation, the EU’s main project to build a secure communications network in orbit by 2030. Beyond serving EU institutions, the joint venture also reflects Europe’s push for strategic independence and defense autonomy, particularly for governments, militaries, and strategic sectors.
By owning their own satellite network, Europe gains control over its data flows and communications infrastructure. From a defense and security point of view, such a network enables encrypted military and intelligence communications, allowing the EU and its allies to operate independently from foreign owned systems in times of crisis.
From the capital markets perspective, this joint venture is a policy backed investment vehicle, as by merging resources Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales aim to create economies of scale that can compete globally and attract private investors alongside public funding from the European Defence Fund and the IRIS programme. The EDF contributes €7.3 billion, with €2.7 billion for research and €5.3 billion for capability development, while the IRIS programme adds a further €10.6 billion over 12 years through its partnership with the SpaceRISE consortium, demonstrating Europe’s substantial financial commitment to sovereign space and defence infrastructure.
If successful, the venture could reignite Europe’s high tech innovation, reinforce its digital and defense independence, and attract new investment across the aerospace and telecom industries.
Project BROMO Timeline
Structure of the deal
While details await approval from regulatory and labor consultation, current announcements reveal its intended structure. The headquarters will be based in Toulouse, France, uniting satellite manufacturing, systems integration, and service provision under a single entity. This setup is modeled after the MBDA governance philosophy of shared control, ensuring protection of national equities while creating a single competitive European champion.
Airbus (France/Germany) is Europe’s largest aerospace and defense group, publicly listed on Euronext (AIR). Airbus builds satellites and launch systems and will act as the lead integrator in the new European space champion merger. Its role is to oversee system design, assembly, and constellation integration.
Thales Group (France) is a public, global leader in defense electronics, cybersecurity, and avionics. Thales brings secure communications technology, encryption expertise, and military satellite experience through its Thales Alenia Space subsidiary.
While Leonardo S.p.A. (Italy) is Italy’s flagship aerospace and defense group, also publicly listed. A long-time partner in Thales Alenia Space, Leonardo provides satellite buses, propulsion systems, and ground segment operations. In the merger, it will add propulsion and ground infrastructure capabilities, integrating Italian industry into the new continental champion as the infrastructure and propulsion supplier.
The ownership will be split in Airbus holding the largest stake of 35% of the shares, meanwhile Leonardo and Thales will each hold 32.5%, ensuring balanced decision making. The new company is projected to generate €6.5 billion in annual revenue once operational and to employ about 25,000 people across Europe. The integration will likely follow the industrial geography already established by the partners. France and Germany, home to Airbus’s main space operations, are set to host a large number of workforce, while Thales, maintaining sites in Cannes and Turin, and Leonardo’s Italian sites will represent key pillars of the new entity. Smaller operations in Spain, UK, Belgium and Poland may also benefit from synergies, though on a more limited scale.
Political and financial implications for the EU and for European companies Europe’s satellite ambitions are progressing from vision to delivery. With the deal mechanics already covered, this section will cover how EU institutions will use their buyer power, and how that choice will impact wider European companies.
While details await approval from regulatory and labor consultation, current announcements reveal its intended structure. The headquarters will be based in Toulouse, France, uniting satellite manufacturing, systems integration, and service provision under a single entity. This setup is modeled after the MBDA governance philosophy of shared control, ensuring protection of national equities while creating a single competitive European champion.
Airbus (France/Germany) is Europe’s largest aerospace and defense group, publicly listed on Euronext (AIR). Airbus builds satellites and launch systems and will act as the lead integrator in the new European space champion merger. Its role is to oversee system design, assembly, and constellation integration.
Thales Group (France) is a public, global leader in defense electronics, cybersecurity, and avionics. Thales brings secure communications technology, encryption expertise, and military satellite experience through its Thales Alenia Space subsidiary.
While Leonardo S.p.A. (Italy) is Italy’s flagship aerospace and defense group, also publicly listed. A long-time partner in Thales Alenia Space, Leonardo provides satellite buses, propulsion systems, and ground segment operations. In the merger, it will add propulsion and ground infrastructure capabilities, integrating Italian industry into the new continental champion as the infrastructure and propulsion supplier.
The ownership will be split in Airbus holding the largest stake of 35% of the shares, meanwhile Leonardo and Thales will each hold 32.5%, ensuring balanced decision making. The new company is projected to generate €6.5 billion in annual revenue once operational and to employ about 25,000 people across Europe. The integration will likely follow the industrial geography already established by the partners. France and Germany, home to Airbus’s main space operations, are set to host a large number of workforce, while Thales, maintaining sites in Cannes and Turin, and Leonardo’s Italian sites will represent key pillars of the new entity. Smaller operations in Spain, UK, Belgium and Poland may also benefit from synergies, though on a more limited scale.
Political and financial implications for the EU and for European companies Europe’s satellite ambitions are progressing from vision to delivery. With the deal mechanics already covered, this section will cover how EU institutions will use their buyer power, and how that choice will impact wider European companies.
Sovereignty: How the EU Pays and Enforces
IRIS 2 (the EU’s sovereign satellite connectivity programme) is the hinge. It is a 12-year concession with governmental services expected from 2030, designed to strengthen communications for defence, civil protection, transport, and remote infrastructure. The programme is set to be worth approximately €10.6bn, with the majority funded by the EU and ESA, whilst the remainder will be supported through private capital. Since the programme sets measurable requirements and ties payments to passing them, certain standards must be met for financing to continue. Therefore, encryption, anti-jamming performance, terminal assurance, and supply-chain provenance become testable obligations such that the system must prove resilience against defined attack profiles before funds are released.
Furthermore, consolidation on the manufacturing side matters for the same reason. With a single European prime, the bus, payload, terminals, and ground segment are treated as one system, thus reducing the number handoffs across the entire program. Allowing for fewer delays to affect schedules, and greater efficiency gains overall. Management guidance and prediction point to €400-600 million in annual operating synergies within five years which is useful if realised, yet is heavily dependent on clean integration and clear governance. The majority of these predicted savings are generated from procurement scale, supply-chain consolidation, shared engineering methods, unified factories and stricter programme management. EU competition authorities will scrutinise the market power that comes with scale; however, the negative consequences the venture has on competition are mitigated by the independence gained for Europe. It is likely that regulators will apply conditions that preserve access for small and mid-sized firms while keeping enough concentration to deliver at constellation pace.
Those changes reduce the internal risk. The timeline now depends on launch availability since launch capacity is the near-term bottleneck. Ariane 6 is flying, but 2025 is tight, with more frequent missions expected in 2026 and 2027. Each extra flight reduces schedule risk for EU missions and shows Europe can build and deploy at speed. Until that pace improves, some satellites will still fly on non-European rockets, awkward for a sovereignty programme, but a pragmatic way to stay on schedule.
European operators: Clearer Accountability, Tougher Terms
With one European prime responsible end-to-end, SES, Eutelsat Group and Hispasat (satellite operators) face fewer integration headaches and a clearer line of accountability, which usually helps financing. Acceptance tests and penalties sit in one place, so schedules are firmer and insurers price risk more favourably. Standardised, certified terminals with open interfaces let airlines, ship operators and public agencies deploy the same kit at scale, reusing approvals and avoiding less cost-efficient unique integrations. Resulting in faster certification and rollout. Nevertheless, the new venture can also have negative consequences for these firms. A dominant prime will hold greater leverage over operators and can push harder on terminal and subsystem pricing. Typically, European satellite operators report in the range of 55-70% EBITDA margins and EBIT margins of around 15-25%. However, the joint venture is now able to utilise greater purchasing economies of scale and has the ability to squeeze the margins of operators.
The decisive period is 2026 to 2029, by then designs will be confirmed, production will increase, and early service demos must prove latency and uptime for public clients. In practice, capex is loaded into 2026–2029, and 2030 marks the shift to incoming cash as governmental services start to pay. If milestones are surpassed and unit economics stay on plan, operators gain something close to a demand floor in which they will receive steady contract-based revenue flows. If schedules slip or costs drift, lenders reprice the risk and funding terms move against them.
A second thread is adoption at the edge. The programme only becomes cash-generative if airports, coast guards and utilities can plug in without many issues. This would be when user terminals are built to withstand real-world use and cheap enough to buy in bulk, and interfaces are based on common standards, so they plug into existing aircraft, vessels and control rooms without bespoke engineering each time. When those conditions hold, customers place batch orders, approvals can reuse prior tests, and the 2030 revenue ramp stays on track. If the stack relies on proprietary add-ons or one-off integrations, each sale turns into a differentiated project causing a larger portion of the value to end up with the manufacturing prime rather than the operators.
Suppliers and SMEs: Scale Meets Specialisation
Mid-sized manufacturers and specialist suppliers will experience greater demand for their products, but on tighter terms. A consolidated European venture purchases avionics, software, sensors and space-traffic management tools at a larger scale, which creates a bigger, steadier, and more predictable order book than any individual country’s champion could offer. The trade-off is a reduction in pricing power for these firms. Smaller suppliers must retain leverage by specialising in critical, hard-to-substitute components that fit the shared design cleanly. This could include: space-hardened electronics, encryption software that agencies already accept, precision timing modules or laser communication units. If a supplier's product is unique yet compatible, the prime is dependent on them, which allows for negotiation from a stronger position. Regulators and policymakers will aim to maintain this balance and keep it workable for both parties. SMEs should remain protected so that delivery is enhanced and innovation continues. The vast majority of fresh components, smarter ground software and cost-efficient terminals tend to be developed by smaller-scale specialist firms. Without these firms, Europe will lack innovation in the sector.
Downstream Telecoms and Integrators: Hardened Fleets, Steadier Revenues
Telecom groups and systems integrators gain value through consistency. Standardised terminals and service levels let them package satellite capacity for civil protection, remote grids, and maritime routes without the customisation of projects. EU security rules will show up verbatim in commercial SLAs (Service Level Agreements), so fleets get hardened and certified at the start. In turn, costs will rise upfront, incident risk falls over time, and revenues stabilise further. However, if bespoke deployments and projects are required and it can not be standardised, then integrators cannot provide homogeneous solutions. Consequently, costs will start to rise, and cash flows will become volatile.
Overall, the joint venture replaces a scattered supply chain with a single accountable builder, which strengthens EU sovereignty and enforces standards through contracts whilst limiting public exposure to achieved milestones. For operators, fewer interfaces and clearer penalties reduce slippage risk and can tighten financing, even when bargaining power shifts toward the manufacturing prime. Suppliers face larger, steadier orders on tougher terms, with the increased need for specialisation. Execution now hinges on launch cadence; if the schedule holds and 2030 service starts on time, Europe buys resilience and an industrial base that scales.
Europe’s strategic shift: the rise of EU JVs
The recent deal between Airbus, Leonardo, and Thales is the latest example of Europe’s growing reliance on joint ventures to strengthen industrial integration and competitiveness. Across sectors such as defence, aerospace, and energy, European
nations are pooling their technological expertise and industrial capacity to counter the inefficiencies of a fragmented market. This trend reflects Europe’s effort to overcome the constraints of a complex legal and regulatory framework that has long limited its ability to act collectively and to preserve its relevance in the current global landscape.
By forming joint ventures and cross-border partnerships, the continent aims to consolidate resources, accelerate innovation, and maintain strategic autonomy in industries that are vital to its future. Something that has become unpostponable in light of recent geopolitical turmoil across the globe, from the need for self-reliance in Europe’s defence and security to the urgency of competing in the global race for clean energy and technological supremacy.
Current Joint Venture Landscape: Eurosam, FCAS and Nuclitalia
One of the earliest examples of this approach is Eurosam, a Franco-Italian joint venture founded in 1989 to develop advanced surface-to-air missile systems. Owned by MBDA France, MBDA Italia, and Thales, Eurosam provides Europe with a sovereign alternative to non-European defence systems. Its technologies, including the Aster missile family where the new SAMP/T NG system is now in service across several European armed forces.
Another key initiative is the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), led by France, Germany, and Spain. Rather than a single aircraft, FCAS is a “system of systems” combining a next- generation fighter jet with drones and a shared combat cloud for coordinated operations. Although structured as a consortium rather than a joint venture, FCAS reflects Europe’s ambition to achieve strategic autonomy in air power. However, it also demonstrates the difficulties of multinational cooperation: in September 2025, The Financial Times reported that Germany was considering dropping France from the program over disagreements on work-share and technology control, exposing the fragility of such partnerships when national interests diverge.
In the energy sector, Nuclitalia represents a more recent effort to revive Italy’s nuclear ambitions. Established in May 2025 by Enel (51%), Ansaldo Energia (39%), and Leonardo (10%), the company aims to explore advanced nuclear technologies, especially small modular reactors (SMRs), to support Italy’s decarbonization and energy security goals. The initiative marks a major policy shift after decades of nuclear phase-out and is intended to rebuild domestic expertise while positioning Italy within Europe’s broader energy transition.
Europe’s (long waited) Awakening: Challenges and Opportunities
These ventures reflect Europe’s broader strategy to create “European champions” capable of competing with the scale and power of foreign industrial giants like Lockheed Martin or SpaceX. By fostering cross-border partnerships, Europe seeks to consolidate its technological base, reduce duplication, and maintain sovereignty in key strategic sectors. Yet this ambition remains constrained by Europe’s fragmented market and intricate regulatory environment.
European NATO defence spending reached €343 billion in 2024, exceeding the 2% of GDP guideline
National industrial policies, differing export controls, and strict EU competition rules often clash with the goal of building large-scale, globally competitive entities. The result is a delicate balance: Europe is striving to strengthen cooperation and integration while navigating the political sensitivities and bureaucratic complexity that has long defined its economic model. This tension was a central theme of Mario Draghi’s 2024 report on European competitiveness, which warned that Europe is “falling dangerously behind” other major economies in productivity, innovation, and investment. Draghi highlighted how excessive regulation, fragmented markets, and underinvestment in technology have weakened the continent’s ability to compete with the U.S. and China, both of which benefit from massive domestic scale and state-backed industrial coordination. In this context, Europe’s growing appetite for joint ventures and cross-border projects could mark the beginning of a long-overdue European awakening, an attempt to act collectively in areas where size, speed, and unity are essential.
Europe’s Aerospace future: Draghi’s Blueprint and the Strategic Leap into Space
The announcement of a joint venture between Leonardo, Thales, and Airbus, designed to create a European satellite network to rival Starlink, symbolizes both an industrial awakening and a policy turning point in Europe’s history. Directly related to the call made in Mario Draghi’s 2024 report, which urges the European Union to rebuild its technological and industrial base to safeguard autonomy, and global relevance. The venture marks more than corporate cooperation aimed at creating value for the firms involved, it represents a strategic test of Europe’s capacity to act collectively and invest with purpose, the very pillars of Draghi’s vision for a more competitive and sovereign Europe.
From Fragmentation to Integration
For decades, Europe’s aerospace landscape has been defined by technical excellence but institutional fragmentation. Each member state has nurtured its own national programs, often duplicating efforts and dispersing resources. The emergence of a joint venture combining the continent’s largest aerospace players signals a long-awaited shift toward industrial integration at a European scale.
This consolidation is coherent with the rationale behind the creation of Airbus itself half a century ago, citing Airbus’ website: “Airbus was created to unite Europe’s fragmented aerospace resources in order to compete with American manufacturers.”. Furthermore, pooling expertise and capital across three of the most powerful member states, can generate the critical mass needed to rival the
Such integration would also enhance Europe’s capacity to deliver end-to-end systems: from satellite platforms and payloads to launch services and secure communications, rather than relying on non-European providers for key components or technologies. The result would be not only industrial efficiency but also strategic autonomy, a value increasingly central to EU policy since the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.
Securing Europe’s Digital and Strategic Sovereignty
The new constellation project is more than an economic venture. It represents a pivotal point of European digital sovereignty. Secure satellite communications underpin everything from defense coordination and crisis response to energy infrastructure and transportation. Relying on foreign constellations for those services leaves Europe strategically exposed.
By developing its own LEO and MEO satellite networks, the continent can ensure independent, encrypted, and resilient connectivity across its territories, including remote and maritime regions. This aligns closely with the EU’s IRIS program, which aims to deploy a sovereign broadband constellation by the end of the decade.
Beyond security and independence, this infrastructure also has strong economic and social value. It can bridge Europe’s digital divide, provide connectivity to industries and rural communities, and enable services like precision agriculture, autonomous navigation, and climate monitoring.
Financing Europe’s Technological Ambitions
Draghi’s report does not exempt itself from diagnosing Europe’s structural weaknesses, among them, a chronic investment deficit and governance fragmentation. He estimates that Europe must invest an additional €500–800 billion annually to achieve its strategic ambitions in green, digital, and defense transitions.
The aerospace sector fits squarely into this picture. Building a sovereign satellite constellation demands billions in upfront capital and long-term political commitment. Public investment through EU mechanisms such as the European Investment Bank, Horizon Europe, and the European Defense Fund will be essential. But Draghi also insists that Europe must mobilize private capital more effectively, by completing the Capital Markets Union and creating stable regulatory environments that reward long-term innovation.
Equally important is governance. Draghi’s message is clear: Europe can no longer afford competing national priorities and slow decision cycles. For aerospace, this means a coordinated framework between the European Commission, ESA, and national governments. The joint venture can serve as a model of such a framework: a single European champion, but operating within a transparent, EU-level governance structure.
A Test of Europe’s Capacity to Act (and to Lead)
Ultimately, this aerospace partnership stands as a symbol of Europe’s renewed ambition. It represents confidence in European technology, an assertion of sovereignty, and a pragmatic response to the realities of global competition.
While success is far from guaranteed, these initiatives suggest that Europe may finally be moving beyond decades of inertia toward a more integrated and strategic industrial policy, capable of restoring its place in the global balance of power.
If Europe can deliver, with sustained investment, coordinated governance, and a focus on innovation, the continent could once again lead in the most advanced frontiers of technology. Aerospace and satellite communications would then stand not only as a business success, but as proof that Europe can act strategically, cooperate effectively, and project influence on its own terms.
In the coming decade, this project will serve as a litmus test for Europe’s capacity to transform industrial policy into tangible competitiveness. Should it succeed, the Leonardo–Thales–Airbus constellation may become not just as a rival to Starlink, but the pivotal project that enabled Europe to redefine its place in the technological world order.
By Zafer Ilkiz, Gregorio Perini, Federico Schizzi, Stefaniya Yakubovskaya
Sources:
- Airbus corporate website
- Enel corporate website
- European Commission’s website
- European Defence Agency
- Eurosam corporate website
- Financial Times
- Leonardo corporate website
- Politico Europe
- Reuters
- Wired