*

SpaceX's concentrated model contrasts with Europe's

distributed

approach, Faury says

*

Airbus CEO highlights Europe's need to adapt to SpaceX's

competitiveness

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Europe's Ariane 6 launcher has yet to stage first

commercial

flight

By Ilona Wissenbach

FRANKFURT, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's hugely

successful rockets-to-satellites SpaceX venture would raise

anti-trust concerns if it had to operate in Europe, the head of

aerospace group Airbus said on Thursday.

SpaceX's insurgent Falcon 9 rocket has slashed launch costs

by introducing reusable rocketry into the commercial industry,

enabling deployment of the company's fast-growing Starlink

constellation, now tallied at nearly 7,000 satellites in orbit.

By contrast, Europe's flagship Ariane 6 launcher, which is

partly built by Airbus, has yet to stage its first

commercial flight after a long-delayed test flight in July. It

plans some 10 flights a year, a fraction of the pace at SpaceX.

"I think what the Americans and what SpaceX have done is

amazing. It's amazing and it's breaking some rules of what we're

doing. It's very concentrated, where with European projects we

are very scattered and distributed," Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury

said.

"So it's launchers, satellites, manufacturing, operating the

constellation. And that's a super-concentrated model that

actually in Europe we are not allowed to think of, for

anti-trust rules," he told an aviation event in Frankfurt.

Backed by Europe's leading space-funding nations such as

France, Airbus and other manufacturers have long complained that

Europe's space industry is hampered by rules requiring work to

be shared between countries involved in funding Ariane.

By contrast, SpaceX is free to decide where to invest and

manufactures 80% of what it needs, Faury said.

"In Europe, we tend to do the ... opposite. We make 20%, we

buy 80%. And by buying 80%, you have a large supply base which

is pleasing everybody. Well, Elon Musk's space is not pleasing

anybody except Elon Musk," Faury said.

SpaceX did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

EUROPE NEEDS TO ADAPT

Despite expressing concerns over the concentration of SpaceX

activities, Faury said Europe must find a way to adapt.

Airbus is in the midst of cutting 2,500 jobs in loss-making

satellite projects. Its rival, defence and technology company

Thales, is also cutting 1,300 jobs.

"(SpaceX) is a super-competitive model. It is re-challenging

what we're doing now in launchers," Faury said.

"If we don't move in launchers and in satellites, if we just

stay with where we are, we're going to be obsolete."

Starlink and its rapid deployment have disrupted the

satellite communications industry and helped shape modern

military strategies in orbit.

NASA plans to use SpaceX to land humans on the moon this decade,

a relationship that could blossom under President-elect Donald

Trump. In May, Reuters reported that SpaceX had been picked to

build a constellation of U.S. spy satellites.

NASA and Pentagon officials have expressed concerns,

privately and sometimes publicly, that the U.S. relies too much

on SpaceX for critical capabilities, and have sought to

stimulate launch and satellite competition.

But anti-trust concerns among SpaceX competitors have so far

gained little traction.

SpaceX advocates and Musk supporters argue that the company

has simply developed innovative, commercially risky technologies

that its rivals have been unwilling to do.

(Writing by Tim Hepher, Joey Roulette)