Airbus has revealed just over 2,000 job losses across its space and defence division, with 477 roles affected in the UK, amid tough competition from US rivals including Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The bulk of the cuts, which were not as severe as the company had initially expected, will affect mainly management and wider office roles in Germany, France, the UK and Spain – the company’s four founding nations.

They are aimed at saving costs but not expected to result in compulsory redundancies, Airbus said.

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The move is mainly a response to sharp financial losses in its satellite unit, which has been suffering at the hands of US rivals, especially from Mr Musk‘s Starlink programme.

Germany will bear the largest share of the overall cuts with 689 positions affected, followed by France with 540, Britain
with 477, Spain with 303 and other non-core nations with 34.

The programme, Airbus said, would be completed by mid-2026.

The company has moved to bolster Europe’s competitiveness in the satellite space through a new alliance that will pool its activities with rivals Thales and Leonardo.

Thales recently revealed plans for 1,300 space-related job cuts.

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Airbus – best-known for its production of commercial airliners – and its satellite competitors in Europe have traditionally focused on complex spacecraft in geostationary orbit.

But demand has been shattered by the arrival of the smaller and cheaper models for low Earth orbit developed by SpaceX.

The Airbus space operations in the UK focus on satellite payloads and communications technology.