Three leading European aerospace groups announced Thursday a plan to merge their satellite operations to create a powerhouse for competing in particular against Elon Musk’s Starlink internet system.

The merger, whose financial details were not disclosed, comes as Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper are racing to deploy satellite networks to offer broadband internet access in vast regions of the world lacking reliable connectivity.

Airbus, Thales and Italy’s Leonardo said they aimed “to strengthen Europe’s strategic autonomy in space, a major sector that underpins critical infrastructure and services related to telecommunications, global navigation, earth observation, science, exploration and national security”.

It would not include space launchers such as Airbus’s Ariane rockets, which

See Full Page