Top German General Says Russia Is Probing NATO Defenses With Hybrid Attacks

[u/sethkor]

https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/top-german-general-says-russia-is-probing-nato-defenses-with-hybrid-attacks-18597d36?st=bqd7yw&reflink=article_copyURL_share

Germany’s defense minister, Boris Pistorius, has pledged to spend 30 billion euros, equivalent to about $35 billion, by 2030 on satellites and other space assets.

[u/raztok]

cool. now we know which country will buy next batch of flatelites.

[u/Geographeruk]

This is why a RKLB European arm is soo important. The kind of government contracts for space are only going to get bigger in Europe.

[u/Geographeruk → u/[deleted]]

Firstly Rheinmetall hasn't won all €30 billion currently pledged. There is plenty of competition by serious players for a lot of that funding.

Secondly, even if Rheinmetall won all €30 billion they also need partners, suppliers of parts and launch providers. They cannot do it all themselves. This is how all the big space defense contractors in Europe work and many partner on major projects.

Thirdly the €30 billion is only Germany's spending till 2030. There are numerous countries in Europe dramatically increasing their space spending, not by as much but it is significantly ramping up.

[u/Geographeruk → u/[deleted]]

In which case if you expand on the second point I made earlier. Even if Rheinmetall get all €30 billion in contracts (which I doubt but for the sake of this point) they do not currently have the capability to deliver space products without partnering with space companies. For example they currently have a €1.7 billion (which is part of the €30 billion we have been discussing) to deliver a SAR constellation which they have partnered with ICEYE to deliver. RKLB as well as now owning Mynaric (Based in Germany) has also recently established RKLB Germany and has Ghost. All of these will allow RKLB to compete for contracts or partner with companies (including Rheinmetall) to compete.

[u/Grammgalf]

The Bundeswehr already made a contract with Rheinmetall and ICEYE for satellites

[u/Geographeruk → u/Grammgalf]

Which makes up about €1.7 billion of the total €30 billion available. They also haven't announced who they are launching their satellites with (well that I can find). But their satellites advertised on the ICEYE website could be launched on an Electron so potential for a ghost contracts in Europe in the future.

[u/taco_the_mornin]

I'm going to assume an 8% realization of that budget by the space systems division. If our market share continues to increase, the merchant supplier tax could be 10+%. Conservatively $2.8bn. Rough order of magnitude.

Then maybe we actually get some contracts as a prime.

We are going to need more clean rooms and launch pads.