Airbus wants to build a Starlink alternative with Rheinmetall
Business / Telecoms — 23 March 2026
The twist. Rheinmetall and satellite manufacturer OHB had initially planned to position themselves jointly against Airbus for Germany’s largest-ever space contract.
The Bundeswehr’s procurement agency had asked all three companies to submit separate bids for the SATCOMBw project — a military alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink network.
Against all expectations, Airbus has since struck a deal with OHB and Rheinmetall to pursue the project together.
The contract is estimated at between €8 and €10 billion, within a broader German budget of €35 billion earmarked for military space technology investments by the end of the decade.
A consortium award could avoid procurement disputes
— for instance if one company challenged an award to a rival
— but it could also be a direct negotiated contract rather than a traditional tender process, which might push the overall price higher.
Why it matters. The three companies consider cooperation essential to executing this ambitious project on an accelerated timeline.
OHB and Airbus bring deep satellite expertise, while Rheinmetall supplies a large share of the Bundeswehr’s weapons systems — making it a critical asset for connecting tanks, fighter jets and warships to the satellite network.
The SATCOMBw Stage 4 system will rely on a constellation of many satellites in low Earth orbit, just a few hundred kilometres in altitude — very similar in architecture to SpaceX’s commercial Starlink network.
The constellation could number more than 100 satellites and is specifically designed to cover the Bundeswehr’s priority operational zones, particularly NATO’s eastern flank.
The bottom line. The ultimate objective is to enable real-time digital communication and data sharing between tanks, fighter jets, drones, warships and individual soldiers on the ground.