Companies traditionally focused on defense are increasingly launching the space sector.
Although space and defense have always been linked, until recently, the tonic was mainly placed in civil use and not in military space capabilities, but this is now changing.
“Although many of the main European space companies were created as descendants of defense companies or are integrated into commercial structures, this trend was decreasing until the early 2020,” according to an analysis of the European Space Policy Institute. (Esp), based in Vienna.
Since mid -202, in particular, the trend accelerated, with a growing number of defense companies to devote themselves to space, either developing previous activities or exploring it as a new strategic opportunity.
“The return of the war to Europe, the emergence of antisatellite threats and the growing militarization of space by other powers force us to consider space as a pillar of our strategic autonomy,” Mépocopete Christophe Grudler told Euronews to Euronews.
Grudler, who co -president of the intergroup of the European Parliament in heaven and space, argued that too many member states are currently working on separate national plans, which leads to fragmentation and lack of coordination.
“We need a more European approach, which means concentrating on EU programs conceived, financed and managed,” added the French liberal.
However, Europe invests only 0.07% of its GDP, that is, 14 billion euros per year, in spatial activities, with a slow change but notorious to specific military and security functions, Matija Rencelj, director of research at ESP.
“There is still a large capacity deficit and the investment necessary to make the additional value of the space estimated between 0.15 and 0.25% of European GDP by 2040,” said Renclj.
The head of the European Space Agency (ESA), composed of 23 Member States, including Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, said that, compared to global competitors such as China, the United States, India or Japan, Europe is currently investing very little in the space for defense.
“The good thing is that Europe is able to do it. We have some of the best spaces and space scientists to work with space technology and have excellent world companies, so we can do it,” said Josef Aschbacher to Euronews in an interview on Tuesday in Warsaw.
Currently, only 15% of public spatial budgets in Europe are attributed to military space activities, well below the global average of approximately 50%, which continues to rely on defense.
Given this scenario, several European countries, including Austria, France, Italy, Luxembourg and Sweden, developed military strategies dedicated to spatial domain. But in general, Europe is still slow to act when it comes to developing and implementing its own skills, according to ESP.
Grudler considers that the EU must act on several fronts: to collect resources through common European programs, create a true European acquisition capacity in the domain of space and completely integrate the space into a long -term industrial strategy, at the same level as semiconductors, energy or artificial intelligence.
“We do not need to copy the United States line by line. But we need political vision, unity and continuity,” he said.
ADVERTISINGThe ESA director, on the other hand, pointed out the need for a significant increase in the budget.
“We have an opportunity at the end of this year, the ESA Ministerial Conference, and this will be a very important time when Europe undertakes to increase investments in space to ensure that we will recover the delay in international activities in space,” said Aschbacher.
During the last ministerial meeting of the ESA Council in Paris in 2022, Member States increased the agency’s budget by 17%, reaching a record of 16.9 billion euros.
In November 2025, ESA ministers are expected to increase their budget to approximately 21 billion euros during their meeting in Bremen, Germany.
ADVERTISINGAleksandra Galka contributed to this article.
