Airbus leads European companies to set up satellite companies: Can challenge Starlink?

In today's commercial space field, Musk's Starlink project is undoubtedly a bright and dazzling star, with its huge satellite constellation and extensive influence on a global scale, occupying an important share of the low-orbit satellite communication market. However, Europe's aerospace giants are clearly not to be outdone, and a transatlantic battle in the field of satellite communications is quietly brewing.

According to the Global Times on December 5, Europe's Airbus Group, France's Thales and Italy's Leonardo are actively discussing cooperation to create a new satellite enterprise. The move is widely seen as a strong challenge by the European aerospace industry to the Musco Starlink project. The project, which is still in its early stages, is being promoted within Airbus under the codename "Project Bromo" and plans to emulate the architecture of the European Missile Group. However, in many technical details of the management model, it is expected that targeted adjustments and innovations will be made according to the business characteristics and development needs of satellite enterprises, after all, there are significant differences between satellite communications business and missile business in terms of operation management and market services. From the perspective of time planning, the establishment of this joint venture company is not achieved overnight, and it still needs several years of careful preparation and construction.

From the perspective of market competition, Starlink project has carried out services in many countries and regions around the world. By providing high-speed Internet access and other services, it has shown unique advantages and huge business potential in remote area communication, aviation and maritime communication, emergency rescue communication and other fields. Its huge number of satellites and relatively mature technical system, so that it has won the favor of many users in the early stage of market development, and accumulated rich operational experience. However, the joint establishment of satellite enterprises by European companies also has many competitive advantages that cannot be ignored.

Under the leadership of Airbus Group, Europe has a deep technical heritage and research and development strength in the aerospace field. Airbus's technical expertise in large aircraft manufacturing, Thales' advanced technology in the fields of aerospace, defense security and digital identity and security, and Leonardo's excellent capabilities in aerospace, defense electronics and other aspects of the three strong combination. It can form a strong technical synergy in the key links of satellite design, manufacturing, launch and communication technology research and development, and create a satellite system with high performance and high reliability.

European companies have an extensive network of partners and a good brand reputation in the international market. With years of business expansion in the fields of aerospace, national defense and security, they have established long-term and stable cooperative relations with government agencies and enterprises in many countries and regions around the world. This will provide strong support for the marketing and business expansion of new satellite enterprises. In areas where security and stability of communications services are required, such as government communications, military communications, and critical infrastructure communications, the brand power and credibility of European companies may make it easier to obtain orders and cooperation opportunities.

Global satellite communication market competition is increasingly fierce, in addition to Starlink project, there are other countries and regions are also actively layout satellite communication business, European enterprises need to find their own differentiated competitive advantages among many competitors, and constantly innovate business models and service content, in order to attract more users and partners.

In short, the European Airbus Group, the French Thales company and the Italian Leonardo company to discuss the cooperation to create a satellite company, the event has undoubtedly injected new vitality and variables to the global satellite communication market. In the process of preparation and development in the next few years, how this new enterprise will respond to the challenges of competitors such as Starlink project with its own advantages, and how to make breakthroughs in technological innovation, market expansion, business model optimization, etc., is worthy of continuous attention in the global commercial space field. Its development results will not only affect the position and influence of the European aerospace industry in the global market, but also have a profound impact on the development and popularization of global satellite communication technology.