Source: CNBC
“Airbus, Leonardo and Thales announced Thursday that they will combine their satellite and space activities to form a ‘leading European player in space,’ as the region looks for a homegrown rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink. The companies — each a heavyweight in the aerospace and defense sector in their own right — said the joint venture would develop and build, ‘a comprehensive portfolio of complementary technologies and end-to-end solutions, from space infrastructure to services.’ The development of space launchers will be excluded from the new company’s operations. … 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.” (10/23/25)