https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/07/europes-venerable-ariane-5-rocket-faces-a-bittersweet-ending-on-tuesday/
After nearly three decades, the Ariane 5 rocket reaches the end of the line.
and Ariane 6 generation wont fly until next year, at the earliest. and probably wont be able to compete with SpaceX either.
Yea I think a lot of space programs / launch companies are in the same boat. While they were developing their next generation offering, SpaceX leapfrogged all of them with a reusable rocket, and pivoting to a new reusable offering after sinking a lot of energy and time and resources into developing a next generation offering is not pretty. I think the Japanese space program is in the current predicament with their interim/planned launch rocket.