Europe advances space sovereignty via Project Bromo and commercial launches

Europe is intensifying efforts to establish strategic space sovereignty through Project Bromo, an industrial alliance between Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo. Supported by the European Commission and President Ursula von der Leyen, the initiative aims to create a European champion in satellite manufacturing and space services to reduce dependence on American providers like SpaceX.

Project Bromo is designed to secure critical supply chains and capture major institutional contracts, such as the upcoming IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) connectivity program. This move follows concerns regarding the reliability of private American services, such as Starlink, in sensitive military and geopolitical contexts.

In a related development for the European commercial sector, the German startup Isar Aerospace successfully reached orbit with its Spectrum rocket, marking the first orbital launch by a European commercial company from mainland Europe. While this demonstrates progress in the private sector, Europe still faces a significant gap compared to the United States in terms of launch frequency, budget, and the number of satellites in orbit.