Credit: Airbus
Unions are pushing back against Airbus as it moves to consolidate its satellite business, with Airbus Defence and Space absorbing Airbus Constellations Satellites. A Union Nationale des Syndicats Autonomes (UNSA) statement has called the move “industrial, economic and social nonsense.”
The Background
In January 2016, Airbus Defence and Space and OneWeb announced the creation of a joint venture, Airbus OneWeb Satellites, to produce 900 satellites for OneWeb’s broadband internet satellite constellation. In September 2023, Eutelsat completed the acquisition of OneWeb, adding the low Earth orbit constellation to its geostationary offering. Four months later, Eutelsat sold its share of Airbus OneWeb Satellites to Airbus, and by October, the company had been renamed Airbus Constellations Satellites (ACS).
Also in October 2024, Airbus announced plans to reorganise its Defence and Space division. While the announcement did not specifically reference ACS, it stated that the reorganisation would be focused on its Space Systems segment, “where significant financial charges were recorded.” While the company announced the successful introduction of the new organisation as of 1 July 2025, language in two separate union statements from December indicates that the absorption of ACS had not yet occurred.
An 18 December release from the CFDT Airbus Defence & Space, the company-level branch of the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT), one of France’s most influential trade union confederations, explains that ACS “is to be absorbed by ADS.” Additionally, a UNSA statement from 11 December uses a similar future tense describing the “proposed” merger by absorption. According to company records, ACS also continues to exist as a legal entity despite the planned absorption.
The Conflict
According to the CFDT release, the planned absorption has been “poorly perceived by the majority of ACS employees.” The UNSA statement is far less diplomatic, calling the proposal “industrial, economic, and social nonsense,” and adding that “there is no benefit in absorbing a company that is delivering strongly positive results, is experiencing strong growth, and is already wholly owned.”
In December 2024, ACS won its first contract after Airbus assumed full ownership, with Eutelsat tapping the company to build 100 satellites for its OneWeb constellation. Earlier this month, Eutelsat expanded the order by an additional 340 satellites, bringing the total to 440 satellites. Delivery of the satellites is expected to begin before the end of the year.
In opposing the merger, the unions warn that ACS risks losing its agility within Airbus’s bureaucracy, with efficiency undermined by the dispersal of ACS teams across major Airbus Defence and Space departments. They also cite employee departures to competitors and the erosion of ACS’s systems and identity as it is absorbed into the larger organisation.
In comments made in July, Airbus Defence and Space CEO Mike Schoellhorn linked the reorganisation to broader geopolitical pressures on Europe’s defence and security industry.
“The current geopolitical landscape requires a stronger, faster and more resilient European defence and security industry,” said Schoellhorn. “Our new structure delivers on this requirement through an efficient and effective end-to-end responsibility for our three businesses and a significantly optimised cost structure while preserving the ability and capacity to benefit from growing defence spending.”
Project Bromo
Consolidating its own satellite business represents only the first step in a broader consolidation strategy under the Project Bromo initiative. This connection has not been lost on the unions, with UNSA explicitly referencing the initiative in its statement.
In October 2025, Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo, three of Europe’s largest space primes, announced that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to combine their space activities into a single company. Under the Project Bromo initiative, the plan would bring together the Space Systems and Space Digital businesses of Airbus Defence and Space, the Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio joint ventures of Thales and Leonardo, and Thales’ SESO optics business. Ownership will be split among the three companies, with Leonardo and Thales each holding a 32.5% stake, and Airbus holding the majority stake of 35%.
According to estimates from the three companies, the combined entity would employ more than 25,000 people and have generated annual revenues of around €6.5 billion in 2024. Critics, including trade unions, have warned that the initiative could create a monopoly in parts of the European space sector and have a significant medium-term impact on employment.
In a joint statement, the CEOs of the three companies said the creation of the new entity would mark a “pivotal milestone for Europe’s space industry.”
“It embodies our shared vision to build a stronger and more competitive European presence in an increasingly dynamic global space market,” the statement said. “By pooling our talent, resources, expertise, and R&D capabilities, we aim to generate growth, accelerate innovation, and deliver greater value to our customers and stakeholders.”
The Project Bromo initiative is still subject to regulatory approvals. The companies do, however, expect the new entity to be operational by 2027.
Keep European Spaceflight Independent
Your donation will help European Spaceflight to continue digging into the stories others miss. Every euro keeps our reporting alive.