No, Ariane Next is not even being seriously worked on. For this rocket to exists there will be at least 3-5 years of political discussions. The Ariane 6 has not even flown yet and Ariane 6 was already very decisive.

If Ariane 6 first flies this year, don't expect funding for a new rocket for at least 5-10 years and then at least 5 years of development.

Any Ariane Next will not exist before 2030 and likely not before 2035.

The only viable European rocket is the Ariane 6. And that has already been booked by Amazon. So unless they want to kick out Amazon, there is no way this will launch before 2027.

Sounds like the EU I know and loathe. /EU citizen from the north

I'm from Switzerland and we help finance that stuff. Specially the Vega rocket, a total piece of crap that shouldn't exist.

Well, you're making some money off it via RUAG.

I mean we can just hand RUAG some money instead of blowing up a rocket.

Nice, good to see them acknowledge that a slightly better "pre-f9" rocket won't cut it. Doesn't say anything about their chance to succeed, but better than trying something that's essentially worthless even in the best case.

If the timeframe is 2027, why not Ariane 5 or 6? Ariane 6 is supposed to have its maiden flight in 2023. Ariane 5 is already in use.

Ariane 5 is EOL. There are only two left, to be launched sometime this year.

Ariane 5 is done. Ariane 6 will launch maybe once this year. And then its already massively overbooked. So much so that many of its launches will likely fly on Falcon 9.

And on top of that Amazon has bought a huge amount of launches. Flying these will take many years.

Its unlikely that they have capacity. Realistically this is a ~2030 at best, not 2027.