Rheinmetall to expand satellite business, citing Ukraine support deal

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Rheinmetall and Finnish satellite manufacturer ICEYE signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday, establishing a joint venture focused on satellite production.

The new company, named “Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions,” represents a significant step in the German defense giant’s expansion into the space domain and a continuation of Germany’s and Europe’s broader rearmament efforts.

Under the agreement, Rheinmetall will hold a 60% majority stake in the venture, with ICEYE owning the remaining 40%. The joint venture will focus initially on manufacturing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites before expanding to other space capabilities.

SAR technology allows surveillance satellites to see through clouds and can increase the resolution of the output image. It has been ICEYE’s area of specialization, with Rheinmetall describing its partner as a “globally leading SAR satellite manufacturer” in its press release.

Production is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2026, with Rheinmetall’s Neuss facility in western Germany serving as one of the primary manufacturing sites. The factory was previously focused on automotive manufacturing.

This satellite-building initiative is part of a broader “Rheinmetall Space Cluster” being created by the German defense company.

“With the establishment of the new joint venture, we are making further inroads into the space domain,” said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG. “We are thus not only responding to the increased demand for space-based reconnaissance capabilities among armed and security forces worldwide, but also contributing to the preservation and expansion of Germany as a centre of technology.”

The partnership builds on an existing collaboration that reached a significant milestone in November 2024, when Rheinmetall and Ukraine signed a contract – with German government support – to provide critical SAR satellite data to Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence. The arrangement extends the satellite reconnaissance capabilities that ICEYE has been providing to Ukraine since 2022, helping inform operational planning as Ukrainian forces face the continued onslaught of Russian troops in the third year of Moscow’s full-scale war.

Also in 2024, Rheinmetall secured the exclusive rights to market SAR satellites to government and military users in Germany and Hungary.

Thursday’s move aligns with Rheinmetall’s ambitions of grabbing market share amid skyrocketing demand for military hardware in Europe, with an aggressive Russia to the east and an increasingly unpredictable United States to the west.

As part of this effort, Rheinmetall has started to repurpose some of its automotive manufacturing capacity. “Our highly qualified colleagues at the Neuss site are being given a promising new perspective for the future,” said the arms maker’s CEO of the pivot.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

荷兰海牙——莱茵金属公司和芬兰卫星制造商ICEYE周四签署了一份谅解备忘录，成立了一家专注于卫星生产的合资企业。

这家名为“莱茵金属 ICEYE 太空解决方案”的新公司，标志着这家德国国防巨头向太空领域扩张迈出了重要一步，也是德国和欧洲更广泛的重新武装努力的延续。

根据协议，莱茵金属公司将持有合资企业60%的多数股权，ICEYE公司持有剩余的40%股权。合资企业初期将专注于制造合成孔径雷达（SAR）卫星，之后再扩展到其他航天领域。

合成孔径雷达（SAR）技术使监视卫星能够穿透云层，并提高输出图像的分辨率。这正是ICEYE的专长领域，莱茵金属公司在其新闻稿中称其合作伙伴是“全球领先的SAR卫星制造商”。

该项目计划于2026年第二季度投产，莱茵金属公司位于德国西部诺伊斯市的工厂将作为主要生产基地之一。该工厂此前主要从事汽车制造。

这项卫星制造计划是德国国防公司莱茵金属公司正在创建的更广泛的“莱茵金属空间集群”的一部分。

莱茵金属股份公司首席执行官阿明·帕佩格尔表示：“通过成立新的合资企业，我们进一步拓展了太空领域。我们不仅响应了全球武装部队和安全部队对天基侦察能力日益增长的需求，也为维护和巩固德国作为科技中心的地位做出了贡献。”

该合作关系建立在现有合作的基础上，双方的合作在2024年11月取得了重大进展。当时，莱茵金属公司与乌克兰签署了一份合同（在德国政府的支持下），向乌克兰国防部提供关键的合成孔径雷达（SAR）卫星数据。这项安排扩展了ICEYE自2022年以来向乌克兰提供的卫星侦察能力，有助于乌克兰军队在莫斯科全面战争的第三年里，面对俄军持续猛攻时，制定作战计划。

同样在 2024 年，莱茵金属公司获得了向德国和匈牙利政府及军方用户独家销售 SAR 卫星的权利。

周四的举动符合莱茵金属公司在欧洲军用装备需求飙升之际抢占市场份额的雄心，而东边是咄咄逼人的俄罗斯，西边是日益难以预测的美国。

作为这项举措的一部分，莱茵金属公司已开始调整其部分汽车制造产能。“我们位于诺伊斯工厂的高素质员工们正迎来充满希望的新未来，”这家军火制造商的首席执行官在谈到这一转型时表示。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。