The article isn't big on details, but this is an interesting development.

European nations seem to believe the key to exerting military power and deterrance is through building a ton of weapons and hiding them from their enemy AND from their domestic civilians who are scared of how poweful russia is and worry whether russia can be resisted.... and then when russia begins to win the propaganda war at that key moment throw up your hands and say "Damn well russia ALWAYS wins the propaganda war!".

"Hopefully" then the European militaries are so secretive that the voting populace of the respective countries do not understand how the thing tasked with keeping them safe from invasion has been evolving or changing with regards to drones and other technologies and thus can easily be nudged by russian propaganda into screaming at the top of their lungs to sabotage their own military.

Ughhhh

Secrecy above all else though! It is always the "safer" option!

great, more space trash

If Europe doesn't build stuff like this then it will probably just become poorer and less relevant, while the US and China push forward and dominate the world with their technology.

Europe definitely has the talent for advanced technology. It's probably just a question of having the political will to create the right conditions.

It must also stave of a rise of the far right to avoid turning straight back into a vassal state of whatever the fuck is going on over the pond.

For that we'll need to tackle fascist algorithms, grow a more sovereign Europe free from fascist Russian and American terrorism. We'll need to redistribute wealth significantly back from oligarchs to the non-elite, ie. proletariat and the middle class.

Yep. Instead of everyone taking a step back, and thinking about whether these things are needed, it's a technology race once again. Then again, as these are seemingly mostly used for war-efforts, environmental concerns are obviously not the highest priority...

That's already the second time this week I have to dig out this link: https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/how-elon-musks-dying-satellites-could-hurt-the-ozone-layer

Hell yeah. Here’s hoping they can get ‘er done without falling to russian/israeli fsckery.

I agree but allowing a nazi drug addict to be the only one doing it was a huge mistake. As we all knew.

Yay megacorps

It must also stave of a rise of the far right

If only neoliberalism is abandoned. I'm afraid that France might be lost to the far right. The opposition don't have any viable alternative.

Best way to combat a monopoly: create a monopoly of your own

The best way to combat monopoly is well designed, independent and empowered government regulation, but I get your point in this case, we are talking about infrastructure on a massive scale and the job needed to be done yesterday so working together is probably best....

Do you trust Elon Musk or whatever idiot he is replaced with?

I think French liberals won't fallback on Le Pen. I'm way more concerned about Germany. They don't even have an opposition

Yes but a monopoly that exists under the EU umbrella rather than one that is controlled under the laws of a hostile foreign government

I don't know the guy

Guess I should have used a /s

This is great news. The more people can end their reliance on the US, the better for everyone. And the faster it happens, the worse is will be on the US. Which is desperately needed.

I don't understand what Leonardo is bringing to this, as far as competition with SpaceX goes. Thales and Airbus cover some of the hardware, payload, and launch capabilities I guess, but none of them are satellite Internet/ communication providers...

It almost seems like a ruse to justify creation of a monopoly. These companies are more like competitors for Lockheed and Boeing than SpaceX. Europe has fast-paced, dynamic space startups too, but these hulking behemoths aren't them.

Like the AI bros imagining AI will cure cancer, Space bros seem to think orbital garbage collection is a business model on the horizon. At least that was the response I got when I tried to talk to my friend at Blue Origin about Kessler Syndrome (which we're pretty darn close to).

Fusing three huge corporations, known for their slowness, procedures, and lack of agility, is not going to lead to more agility and innovation...

Interesting read here: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/02/europe-has-the-worst-imaginable-idea-to-counter-spacexs-launch-dominance/