Europe’s leading aerospace groups Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo are finalizing a long-awaited merger of their satellite manufacturing operations, aimed at creating a continental space champion capable of competing with Elon Musk’s Starlink, people familiar with the talks told Reuters.
While the official announcement, initially expected Wednesday, was delayed by legal and financial fine-tuning, insiders said the deal remains on track, with only minor details causing the hold-up. “The announcement is ready,” said one source. “It’s industrially, technically, and financially complicated, but the framework is intact.”
Under the plan — known internally as “Projet Bromo” — the three companies will combine their satellite assets into a joint holding company, each owning roughly one-third after balancing payments. The new entity will require up to two years to finalize, pending regulatory approval, and could face scrutiny from EU competition authorities that previously blocked similar ventures.
The merger would make the group the largest global manufacturer of geostationary satellites, overtaking Maxar, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin, according to data from Quilty Space. However, analysts note that the geostationary satellite market has been shrinking due to the rise of low-Earth orbit constellations, led by SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper.
“Europe had a commanding lead in geostationary satellite manufacturing,” said Caleb Henry, research director at Quilty Space. “But this market has shrunk considerably in the face of these new titans of industry.”
The merger is seen as a strategic lifeline for Europe’s fragmented satellite industry, which has struggled to stay competitive amid rapid shifts in global space technology and soaring demand for low-orbit broadband systems.
Although corporate governance details — such as who will chair or lead the merged group — remain unsettled, sources said all three companies are committed to cooperation, driven by falling market share and rising losses in their satellite divisions.
If completed, the merger would mark the most significant consolidation in Europe’s aerospace industry in decades, signaling a coordinated effort to reclaim technological leadership in the new era of commercial space.