Poland is pressing ahead with plans to launch its first trio of military satellites this month as part of a broader effort to build a national Earth-observation capability for its armed forces. Defense officials say the new system, developed jointly by Finnish firm ICEYE and Poland’s Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności No. 1—part of the state-owned defense conglomerate PGZ—will form the foundation of the country’s future military space infrastructure.
The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite will ride into low Earth orbit aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 during the Transporter-15 mission. The launch, originally planned for Nov. 11 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to coincide with Poland’s Independence Day, has been pushed to Nov. 19.
This initiative is one element of Poland’s intensified push to strengthen its reconnaissance capabilities amid Russia’s ongoing assault on Ukraine.
“This is a crucial capability for the Polish armed forces—one we have not possessed until now,” Deputy National Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said during a Nov. 13 briefing in Warsaw. “With this program, we are developing targeting abilities and joining the group of nations equipped with such systems.”
Under a contract signed in May, the Defence Ministry will receive at least three satellites through the MikroSAR program, with an option to procure three more later. The initial agreement is valued at roughly PLN 860 million ($237 million). Tomczyk added that the war in Ukraine has significantly accelerated Poland’s military space ambitions.
He noted that discussions involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and ICEYE leadership highlighted the strategic significance of satellite-based reconnaissance.
ICEYE’s CEO and co-founder, Rafał Modrzewski, said the first SAR satellite will soon give Poland’s military “direct access to its own imaging system, capable of capturing scenes with 25-centimeter resolution.”
The partnership between ICEYE and PGZ represents another major European collaboration for the Finnish firm. In May 2025, ICEYE and Germany’s Rheinmetall established a joint venture—Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions—to build satellites, with an initial focus on SAR systems. Rheinmetall holds a 60% stake in the venture, while ICEYE owns the remaining 40%.
As the satellite projects advance, Poland last year set up a new military body—the Geospatial Intelligence and Satellite Services Agency—to analyze satellite data and supply relevant services to the armed forces.
Col. Leszek Paszkowski, who leads the agency, emphasized that the value lies not only in the satellites themselves but in the space-based services they enable, including navigation, imaging, communications, and radio reconnaissance.
He added that the planned satellite constellation will act as the military’s “eyes,” guiding precision strikes. “Satellite technologies are the only tools that support deep, accurate strikes, which our doctrine identifies as a key element of deterrence,” Paszkowski said.
Meanwhile, the Polish military is also waiting on two observation satellites ordered from France’s Airbus in December 2022. Scheduled for launch by 2027, the satellites will integrate into a joint French-Polish constellation to enhance intelligence-gathering capabilities. The deal is valued at approximately €575 million ($669 million).
