Poland sets up first-ever military satellite launch

WARSAW, Poland — In a bid to secure an Earth observation system for the country’s armed forces, Poland is advancing a project to have its first three military satellites launched this month.

Developed by a consortium of Finnish manufacturer ICEYE and Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności No 1, an offshoot of Poland’s state-run defense group PGZ, the national satellite reconnaissance system will be the first component of the military space capabilities Warsaw aims to field in the coming years, defense officials said.

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite is to be deployed into low Earth orbit onboard the next Transporter-15 mission by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was initially scheduled for Nov. 11 in what would mark Poland’s Independence Day. The deployment has been postponed and is currently scheduled for Nov. 19.

The initiative is part of Poland’s efforts to ramp up its military reconnaissance capacities amid an ongoing Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

“We are developing today a very important capacity for the Polish military, a capacity that the military has not had to date,” Polish Deputy National Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said during a Nov. 13 event devoted to the project in Warsaw. “We are developing the capacities of targeting, and … we are joining a group of countries that have such capacities.”

Under the contract the Polish Ministry of National Defence signed with the manufacturer consortium last May, the country’s military is to receive at least three satellites under the MikroSAR program, with an option to acquire a further three spacecraft. The initial deal is worth around PLN 860 million ($237 million).

In his remarks, Tomczyk said the war in Ukraine has sparked a major push for Poland to accelerate its military space program.

“When [Ukraine’s] President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Finland, we held meetings with a very narrow group of persons, among others with the CEO of ICEYE who is with us here today. This shows the importance of not only the company, but also the capacities related to satellite reconnaissance,” according to the deputy minister.

Rafał Modrzewski, the CEO and co-founder of ICEYE, said at the event that, with the first SAR satellite’s forthcoming deployment, the Polish military “will have access to its own reconnaissance system that will allow to capture any images it desires with a resolution of 25 centimeters”.

The Finnish company’s partnership with PGZ, the dominant player in Poland’s defense sector, marks another collaboration between ICEYE and a major European industry player.

In May 2025, the company teamed up with Germany’s Rheinmetall , setting up a joint venture devoted to satellite manufacturing with an initial focus on SAR satellites. The new entity, named Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions, is jointly owned by Rheinmetall, which holds 60% of the shares, and ICEYE, which owns the remaining 40% stake.

With Poland’s military satellite projects moving forward, last year, the country created a new military institution, the Geospatial Intelligence and Satellite Services Agency. The organization will be responsible for processing the data collected by the military satellite fleet and providing related services to the armed forces.

“From a military user’s point of view, what is most important here is the services that a user receives from space, such as satellite navigation, satellite imaging of Earth’s surface, satellite radio reconnaissance, and satellite communications,” Col. Leszek Paszkowski, the agency’s head, said at the event.

The military official stated that, according to Poland’s defense strategy, the designed satellite fleet will serve as the “eyes” guiding the country’s military in how it strikes enemy forces.

“It is worth emphasizing that satellite technologies are the only ones that enable so-called deep, precise strikes that, in our doctrine, are the main element of the deterrence policy directed against the potential opponent,” he said.

In the meantime, the Polish military is awaiting the deployment of two observation satellites the government ordered from French company Airbus in December 2022.

The spacecraft are to be launched into space by 2027. Under the operational plan, the spy satellites are to increase the capacities of Poland’s armed forces in the field of reconnaissance data, operating as part of a French-Polish constellation. The net value of the contract is about €575 million ($669 million), according to data from the ministry.

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——为了确保该国武装部队拥有地球观测系统，波兰正在推进一项计划，将于本月发射其首批三颗军用卫星。

国防官员表示，由芬兰制造商 ICEYE 和波兰国营国防集团 PGZ 的子公司 Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności No 1 组成的联合体开发的这套国家卫星侦察系统，将是华沙计划在未来几年部署的军事太空能力的首个组成部分。

合成孔径雷达（SAR）卫星将搭乘SpaceX公司的猎鹰9号火箭执行下一次Transporter-15任务，部署到近地轨道。

此次从加利福尼亚州范登堡太空部队基地发射的卫星原定于11月11日波兰独立日当天进行。但发射已被推迟，目前定于11月19日进行。

这项举措是波兰为应对俄罗斯持续入侵邻国乌克兰而加强军事侦察能力的举措之一。

波兰国防部副部长塞扎里·托姆奇克在11月13日于华沙举行的项目介绍活动上表示：“我们今天正在为波兰军队开发一项非常重要的能力，一项波兰军队此前从未拥有过的能力。我们正在发展目标定位能力，并且……我们正在加入拥有此类能力的国家行列。”

根据波兰国防部去年5月与制造商联合体签署的合同，波兰军方将至少接收三颗MikroSAR计划的卫星，并可选择再购买三颗卫星。首笔交易价值约8.6亿波兰兹罗提（约合2.37亿美元）。

托姆奇克在讲话中表示，乌克兰战争促使波兰大力加快其军事航天计划。

这位副部长表示：“乌克兰总统泽连斯基访问芬兰期间，我们只与极少数人举行了会晤，其中包括今天在场的ICEYE首席执行官。这不仅表明了该公司的重要性，也表明了芬兰在卫星侦察方面的能力。”

ICEYE 的首席执行官兼联合创始人 Rafał Modrzewski 在活动上表示，随着第一颗 SAR 卫星即将部署，波兰军方“将拥有自己的侦察系统，该系统能够以 25 厘米的分辨率捕捉任何它想要的图像”。

芬兰公司 ICEYE 与波兰国防领域的领军企业 PGZ 建立合作关系，标志着 ICEYE 与欧洲主要工业企业之间的又一次合作。

2025年5月，该公司与德国莱茵金属公司合作，成立了一家专注于卫星制造的合资企业，初期重点发展合成孔径雷达（SAR）卫星。这家名为莱茵金属ICEYE空间解决方案公司的新实体由莱茵金属（持股60%）和ICEYE（持股40%）共同拥有。

随着波兰军用卫星项目的推进，该国去年成立了一个新的军事机构——地理空间情报与卫星服务局。该机构将负责处理军用卫星群收集的数据，并向武装部队提供相关服务。

“从军事用户的角度来看，最重要的是用户从太空获得的服务，例如卫星导航、地球表面卫星成像、卫星无线电侦察和卫星通信，”该机构负责人莱谢克·帕什科夫斯基上校在活动上说。

这位军方官员表示，根据波兰的国防战略，设计的卫星群将作为“眼睛”，指导该国军队如何打击敌军。

“值得强调的是，卫星技术是唯一能够实现所谓纵深、精确打击的技术，而纵深、精确打击在我们的理论中是针对潜在对手的威慑政策的主要要素，”他说。

与此同时，波兰军方正在等待部署政府于 2022 年 12 月向法国空中客车公司订购的两颗观测卫星。

这些航天器计划于2027年发射升空。根据作战计划，这些间谍卫星将作为法波联合星座的一部分，提升波兰武装部队在侦察数据领域的能力。据波兰国防部数据显示，该合同净值约为5.75亿欧元（约合6.69亿美元）。

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。