Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham to urge him against selecting US contractor Lockheed Martin to build the next-generation Skynet military satellites, warning that such a decision could imperil the UK’s position in the European space sector.
The letter, part of an intensifying last-minute lobbying effort, contends that choosing a non-European supplier for the £2.4 billion contract would have implications for the UK’s industrial strength in military satellites in Europe for decades to come. Airbus, which is headquartered in France, is competing with Lockheed Martin for the award.
The Skynet programme is the UK’s sovereign military satellite communications system and the procurement has become a focal point for debates over industrial strategy and defence partnerships. Airbus’s intervention underscores the strategic stakes for European suppliers seeking to retain technology, jobs and supply-chain roles in a major national defence programme.
Airbus framed its appeal as an effort to protect the UK’s long-term capabilities and influence in the European space industry by keeping significant manufacturing and systems integration work within European companies. The move intensifies pressure on ministers as the government prepares to make a decision on the contract.
The correspondence adds to wider industry scrutiny of the procurement, which supporters of a European-led supply chain say affects not only immediate capability but also future competitive positioning in military space systems across Europe. The outcome of the award will be closely watched by defence and industrial policy observers in the UK and on the continent.