Major German defence contractor Rheinmetall has secured a contract worth €1.7 billion ($2 billion) with the German armed forces, or Bundeswehr, for its new space satellite business, the company announced on Thursday.
The multi-year contract with the Bundeswehr’s procurement office includes an expansion option.
The deal concerns access to space-based reconnaissance data provided by Synthetic Aperture Radar or SAR satellite.
Each day, the Bundeswehr is to receive a large number of images, made available at short notice. They come from the currently 62 satellites operated by the Finnish company ICEYE which cooperates with Rheinmetall. More satellites are to be added in the future.
Images from these spacecraft are considered particularly precise, even in bad weather and at night. Data analysis is intended, among other things, to help protect the new Bundeswehr brigade in Lithuania and, more broadly, NATO’s eastern flank.
In its satellite business, Rheinmetall will work with the Polish tech company Satim, which will handle data analysis using artificial intelligence. Large volumes of complex radar images will be converted into usable information.
Tank maker looks to the skies
Rheinmetall primarily manufactures tanks, ammunition and artillery. The war in Ukraine has significantly increased demand for such military goods, and the Dusseldorf-based defence company’s order books are fuller than ever.
The Ukraine war has also shown how important airspace and outer space are: Drones are shaping the conduct of warfare, whether as kamikaze aircraft carrying explosives or for reconnaissance. In addition, aerial reconnaissance imagery is enormously important for detecting enemy activities behind the front lines at an early stage.