German defense company Rheinmetall and Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions, which will, among other things, produce satellites. Both companies are known for their cooperation with Ukraine.
German defense company Rheinmetall and Finnish microsatellite manufacturer ICEYE have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a joint venture, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions, which will, among other things, produce satellites. Both companies are known for their cooperation with Ukraine.
Rheinmetall will become the majority shareholder of the new joint venture, called Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions, with a 60% stake, while ICEYE will own 40%. The formation is still subject to final approval and regulatory approvals, the company said in a press release.
Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions will manufacture satellites within the Rheinmetall Space Cluster in Germany, starting with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites and later on other space solutions. Production will take place, among other things, at the Neuss plant. Production is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2026.
«With the creation of the new joint venture, we are taking further steps in the space industry. We are not only responding to the growing demand for space intelligence assets among armed forces and security services around the world, but are also making our contribution to maintaining and expanding Germany as a technology hub,» said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall AG.
«ICEYE aims to become a leading provider of critical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance infrastructure for Allied countries. We are very pleased to deepen our strategic cooperation with Rheinmetall through the creation of a joint venture. This joint venture strengthens our focus on developing space technologies for the needs of global defense markets and ensuring the sovereign defense of Europe,» commented Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and co-founder of ICEYE.
SAR satellites have the advantage over conventional satellites in that they can produce high-resolution images regardless of weather conditions or time of day. They are very detailed and allow the identification of even the smallest objects on the Earth’s surface.
Rheinmetall and Ukraine, with the support of the German government, have signed a contract to meet Ukraine’s urgent need for SAR satellite reconnaissance capabilities. The agreement expands on the SAR data and other support that Ukraine received from ICEYE during the war.
It was previously reported that Ukraine has two ICEYE satellites at its disposal — the «people’s» one, purchased by Serhiy Prytula’s charitable foundation, and the second one, funded by Rheinmetall and the German government. The company provides Ukrainian intelligence with the ability to receive images from the entire satellite network.
Earlier, Rafal Modzhevsky, the Polish co-founder of the Finnish company ICEYE, said that before the full-scale Russian invasion, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, offered to purchase the company’s microsatellite. The satellite images obtained twice disrupted the Russian plans in 2021–2022.
