ICEYE and Rheinmetall, with support from the German government, will support Ukraine with additional SAR satellite imagery for reconnaissance. Credit: ICEYE.

The German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall and Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICYEYE will work together, with support from the German government, to provide Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence with Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite imagery data.

This tangled web of close industrial and government cooperation builds on the ties formed between the two companies in September 2024. At that time, Rheinmetall secured exclusive rights to provide the SAR data to military and government end-users in Germany and Hungary.

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Moreover, ICEYE has a track record of supplying data to inform Ukraine’s operational planning since 2022. Since then a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the supplier and the Ministry of Defence in early July.

SAR uses motion from a radar antenna over a target region to provide finer spatial resolution than conventional stationary beam-scanning radars. The system is integrated on a platform, such as an aircraft or spacecraft.

ICEYE operates globally with offices in Finland, Poland, Spain, the UK, and the US. Since 2018, the company has launched 38 satellites.

All of this will extend Ukraine’s reconnaissance capabilities at a time when their forces are gradually receding in key areas in Eastern Ukraine and the Russian Kursk territory.

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Recent findings from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) indicate that Russian forces lost almost 200 tanks, over 650 armoured vehicles, and suffered an estimated 80,000 casualties in taking roughly 1,500 square kilometres during a period of intensified Russian offensive operations in September and October 2024.

Russia’s autumn offensive in the Donbas is centred around Pokrovsk, a town the Russians are pursuing at great costs. The ISW observed data suggesting five Russian armoured divisions have been lost in attempts to encompass the town since October 2023.

SAR satellites offer an advantage over conventional satellites as they can generate high-resolution images regardless of weather conditions or time of day. These are detailed and make even the smallest objects on the earth’s surface identifiable. This can bring decisive advantages for Ukraine’s armed forces in terms of surveillance, target acquisition, reconnaissance or their own positioning on the battlefield.

This is the case for Russia’s advancement too. Oleksandra Ustinova, head of Ukraine’s Parliamentary Commission on Arms, previously lauded ICEYE’s efforts as the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation operator:

“I plead with all satellite companies to follow ICEYE’s lead in not selling imagery to Russia… We are grateful that they are taking the technological lead within the industry to help protect Ukraine from Russian aggression.”