EU lost space competition to Elon Musk, says commissioner

LONDON

The EU is facing a “deep crisis” in its space launch capabilities and has fallen behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the EU’s commissioner for defense and space said Friday.

Speaking at the Forum Europa event in Brussels, Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said that while Europe “is really good” in certain space programs like Galileo, Copernicus, and the new IRIS² satellite system, it is lagging in launch technology.

“We lost competition, really, to Elon Musk, and now we need to catch up,” said Kubilius.

“We are looking to new industries, new space industries, that can bring new ideas, new ways to develop our launching capabilities.”

Stressing that the world is now facing a revolution in space, the commissioner said the coming decades could bring "a lot of new developments.”

‘Life will not be the same as it was before the crisis’

Turning to defense, Kubilius said the EU will unveil a roadmap by year’s end to address capability gaps, boost production, strengthen strategic enablers and advance joint European defense projects.

The roadmap will emphasize emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and military mobility.

“If we unite as Europe and mobilize our economic mind, we can deter any aggression,” he said. “But if we don’t, our union is at risk, our way of life is at risk.”

He went on to say that the member states "must now act" and take the decisions needed, not only for their own defense, but to protect all 450 million people in the union.

"After this crisis of security is over, life will not be the same as it was before the crisis," said Kubilius, adding that Europe will be "much stronger" in its defense "together with a strong Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian nation as part of our family."

“We will need to take more and more responsibility on European defense, on our shoulders, and having in mind also that it will demand perhaps some kind of new approaches into how we're organizing our defense,” he added.

Last month, the European Commission unveiled proposals to address military capability gaps and boost defense industry cooperation.

The plan includes allowing additional budgetary space for countries to increase defense spending, with a cap of up to 1.5% of GDP annually for four years.