The European companies Airbus, Thales and Leonardo are negotiating a joint space project. The Bromo project, named after an Indonesian volcano, envisages the creation of a large arsenal of satellites. The new company will be modeled after missile manufacturer MBDA, a joint project between Airbus, Leonardo and BAE Systems.
In previous decades, Europe's leading satellite manufacturers had traditionally focused on launching sophisticated spacecraft into geostationary orbit, but found themselves unprepared for competition from a host of cheap, small satellites in low Earth orbit. The rapid growth of the Starlink satellite constellation requires an urgent response from European space companies.
„The Bromo Project” envisages the creation of a new structure that brings together the satellite assets of the participants. Leonardo CEO Roberto Chingolani said the talks included various technical discussions and confirmed that the proposed structure would be based on the MBDA model. Chingolani emphasized that satellites will make up 75% of the space economy.
MBDA was founded in 2001 through the merger of the Anglo-French Matra BAe Dynamics, the French Aerospatiale Matra Missiles and the Anglo-Italian Alenia Marconi Systems. The founders of these companies are Airbus, BAE and Leonardo.