Airbus announced in December that it would cut around 2,000 jobs in its Defence and Space division, after its satellite production came under pressure from U.S. competition.
“If we are not able to scale up in sectors like space or defense, we will remain marginal and we will not have the means to invest in the constellations or new technologies at the necessary height,” said Faury.
It’s not Europe’s only attempt to compete with Starlink.
Airbus and Thales, as well as OHB, are part of an open consortium that won a 12-year contract with the Commission to build IRIS², the EU’s multibillion-euro project for a cybersecure satellite system for spy agencies, governments and armies.
But the project has been rocked by tensions and Germany’s outgoing Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck wrote to the Commission last spring to try and stall it.
There’s a political awareness, however, that speed is of the essence.
“For years now, we’ve been working at European level on the IRIS² constellation, to produce our own secure satellite communications system,” French Renew EU lawmaker Valérie Hayer told a Brussels press briefing. “If member states start shopping elsewhere because we’re too slow for 1,000 reasons, obviously we’ve got a huge problem.”
Max Griera contributed reporting.
