Credit: Poland’s Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy
Poland’s Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy has announced that the country has allocated 2 billion PLN (€470 million) for the purchase of six secure communications satellites and the construction of the associated ground infrastructure.
Announced on 11 September, the new project is part of the final revision of Poland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, a programme designed to strengthen the Polish economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan outlines the allocation of a total of €59.8 billion in funding, including €25.3 billion in grants and €34.5 billion in preferential loans.
According to the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy update, the six satellites will be an additional contribution to the country’s commitments to the European Union’s IRIS2 programme.
Initially announced by the European Commission in late 2022, the programme aims to develop a multi-orbit satellite constellation to provide sovereign, secure, and resilient communications for EU member-state governments. In December 2024, the European Commission awarded a €10.6 billion contract to the SpaceRIDE consortium, which is led by SES, Eutelsat, and Hispasat, to build the primary 290-satellite constellation.
In an 11 September statement, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Katarzyna Pełczyńska explained that the initiative would enable the country’s army, police, fire service, border guard, and foreign service to have “access to secure and sovereign communication that Putin cannot disrupt” (translated from Polish). The minister added that it would also give Polish companies the opportunity to participate in global supply chains for space products and services.
As well as developing sovereign secure communications, the country is also developing Earth observation capabilities. In early 2024, the Polish Space Agency allocated €85 million for the construction of the country’s CAMILA (Country Awareness Mission in Land Analysis) initiative, which is a small constellation of satellites to provide high-resolution imagery for a range of applications, including agriculture, land management, and emergency response.
In April 2025, the country awarded a €52 million contract to Polish satellite manufacturer Creotech Instruments to develop the first three satellites, a radar satellite, a high-resolution optical satellite, and a lower-resolution optical satellite, for the CAMILA constellation, along with the necessary ground infrastructure. This initial three-satellite constellation is expected to be launched in 2027.