Boeing Co., hoping to bolster its beleaguered satellite-making unit in El Segundo, Calif., is teaming up with a European rival to develop and build components for commercial satellites.

Boeing said Thursday it struck a partnership deal with France-based Alcatel, Europe’s largest satellite maker, to help develop and make communication subsystems for future satellite projects.

The pact is the latest by aerospace companies to form trans-Atlantic partnerships as a way to expand the market for their products. It also represents a fundamental shift for Boeing, which has been a soup-to-nuts maker of satellites.

“For Boeing, it’s rather novel,” said Marco Caceres, a space analyst for Teal Group Corp. “Boeing likes to do things on its own. They would contract out a few things, but the actual assembly, integration, major subsystems, they’ve done in-house.”