This content now requires a Defence Insight® subscription to access

Our Executive Outlook content requires a Basic-level or higher Defence Insight® subscription to access.

Not a subscriber? Explore your options here

Email Address

Password

Forgot your password? Reset by clicking here

Confirm your account

Please enter the four-digit pin below that has been emailed to you.

Didn't receive the pin yet?

This pin expires in 20 minutes.

[[ error ]]

EU plays catch-up on launchers

16th June 2021 - 15:57 GMT | by Samuel Beal

RSS

The European expendable launch system Ariane 6 is under development. (Photo: ArianeGroup)

Europe ceded the initiative on reusable launcher technology in 2014 and only now is it trying to claw back the lost ground.

While the US, China and India drive on with their military and commercial space programmes, EU member states continue to pursue a fragmented set of policies set at a national level.

Now, Brussels has announced plans to consolidate this cumbersome and disjointed industry lest it falls too far behind the global competition.

Decades of siloed planning on space has stymied Europe’s technological potential. Speaking at the European Space Conference in January 2021, Thierry Breton, the EU Internal Market Commissioner, warned ‘that considering the global market and the offensive positioning of our competitors, it is not the time for complacency’.

Our news & analysis is now part of Defence Insight®

A Basic-level or higher Defence Insight subscription is now required to view this content.

LEARN MORE