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Airbus, Thales, Leonardo eye new satellite venture

-sources

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'Project Bromo' based on pan-European MBDA missile venture

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Airbus to give space/defence restructuring details this

week

By Tim Hepher and Giulia Segreti

PARIS/ROME, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Europe's Airbus,

Thales and Leonardo are exploring plans to

set up a new joint space company as they look to compete with

Elon Musk's Starlink.

"Project Bromo", named after an Indonesian volcano,

envisages a standalone European satellite champion modelled on

missile maker MBDA, which is owned by Airbus, Leonardo and BAE

Systems, three people familiar with the matter said.

Until now, Europe's leading satellite makers have said only

that they are looking at working together to create greater

scale in a sector marred by heavy losses, as the rapid growth of

Elon Musk's Starlink network dominates low Earth orbit.

But although still at an early stage, talks have progressed

far enough to earn a code-name inside Airbus and a preferred

structure with a new company combining satellite assets, rather

than one partner buying assets from the rest, the people said.

Leonardo CEO Roberto Cingolani told Reuters the talks

involved various technical discussions, and confirmed the

intended structure would be based on the MBDA model.

"That's the one, it is hard that it can be anything else,"

he said on the sidelines of an event in Rome.

Airbus and Thales declined to comment.

The merger proposals are separate from job cuts to be

outlined by Airbus this week and could take years to implement,

one source said.

But together, they represent a multi-speed effort to bring

Europe's struggling space sector into shape to face tough

competition.