PARIS — Europe’s Arianespace launch-service provider on Jan. 4 said it would refuse to enter a price war with competitors SpaceX of the United States and International Launch Services, the U.S.-based seller of Russia’s Proton rocket, but would nonetheless take the necessary steps to maintain its 50 percent market share.

With SpaceX grounded since a September explosion of its rocket during a prelaunch test, and Proton launches suspended since a June launch anomaly, 2016 should have been an excellent year for Arianespace.

In fact, the company’s revenue of around 1.4 . . .

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