The merger comes as Elon Musk’s Starlink marked its 10,000th satellite launch into orbit
Europe's largest space groups, Leonardo, Airbus, and Thales, will pool their satellite businesses after the companies unveiled a Memorandum of Understandingon Thursday.
The three companies will create “Project Bromo,” a satellite manufacturing company to compete with rivals in China and the United States, notably Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Airbus said in a statement it would create a "new European space player" that aims to "unite and enhance capabilities" of the three companies.
“This proposed new company marks a pivotal milestone for Europe’s space industry. It embodies our shared vision to build a stronger and more competitive European presence in an increasingly dynamic global space market," the chief executive officers of each company said in a joint statement.
The new venture will employ 25,000 people in Europe and aims to launch in 2027, subject to regulatory approval.
A report surfaced of their proposed satellite company last year, when officials told Reuters that a new company would combine satellite assets instead of having one partner buy assets from the rest.
One of the companies that Project Bromo aims to rival is Musk’s SpaceX, which has rolled out the Starlink megaconstellation that launched its 10,000th satellite into orbit over the weekend. Approximately 8,680 of these satellites are in orbit, according to astronomer Jonathan MacDowell, who tracks operational satellites.
In 2021, the United States’ Federal Communications Commission approved Musk’s plan to deploy at least 12,000 satellites by 2026.
Starlink is used throughout Europe in places such as Ukraine, where an estimated 50,000 terminals are in use to keep the country’s railways, schools, and hospitals online in the event of a power outage.
Other companies are also working to compete with Starlink, such as Eutelsat, which recently received a €1.35 billion cash injection from the French government, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.
The European Space Agency is also working on a megaconstellation with Thales called the High-throughput Digital and Optical Network (HydRON) project, where satellites will transmit laser signals between each other and a few optical networks on the ground to deliver internet speeds up to a terabit per second.
This story was updated on 23 October 2025 with the news of the memorandum of understanding.
