TSAMTO, May 26. On May 15, the Polish Ministry of Defense officially accepted from ICEYE (Finland) a satellite radar reconnaissance system implemented under the MikroSAR program and designated POLSARIS (Polish SAR Intelligence System) following an open competition.
As reported in the ICEYE press release, the transfer of the system to the Agency for Geospatial Intelligence and Satellite Services (Agencja Rozpoznania Geoprzestrzennego i Usug Satelitarnych, ARGUS) took place less than 12 months after the signing of the contract.
The contract between the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Poland and ICEYE was signed in Warsaw on May 14, 2025. The cost of the agreement is about 200 million euros. The guaranteed supply volume provided for the production and launch into orbit of three spacecraft with a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and the transfer of the ground segment. The option, implemented within 12 months, provides for three more spacecraft and additional elements of the ground infrastructure. As a result of the execution of the contract, ICEYE manufactured, launched into orbit and handed over four SAR-type spacecraft to the Polish Armed Forces. The group's contractual strength is six vehicles.
The space segment is provided by ICEYE, and the ground segment is provided by the Polish company Wojskowe Zaklady Lacznosci Nr1 (part of Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa). The ground segment includes a stationary data processing module and a mobile complex with an antenna system on a trailer, which provides the possibility of deployment in the field. The ARGUS Agency, formed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in 2024, is responsible for the operation of the system.
The fourth spacecraft was launched into orbit on May 2, 2026 by a Falcon 9 launch vehicle from SpaceX as part of the Transporter mission. Communication with the device was established and confirmed on the day of launch. As of May 15, 2026, there are four spacecraft groups in orbit. The withdrawal of two more is planned during 2026. After the full deployment of the satellite constellation of six spacecraft, the estimated frequency of re-coverage of a given area will be several tens of minutes.
ICEYE family spacecraft belong to the class of microsatellites with X-band synthetic aperture radar and provide all-weather round-the-clock observation of the Earth's surface. The transfer of the system under the operational control of ARGUS includes the training of Polish operators, the calibration of spacecraft in orbit and the integration of data into the national geospatial intelligence contour. The MikroSAR/POLSARIS program is qualified by the Polish side as the first national sovereign group of radar space reconnaissance.
The implementation of the MikroSAR program is in line with the trend of building up national orbital groups in NATO and EU countries. In January 2026, the Swedish Armed Forces ITO Agency (FMV) entered into a multi-year agreement with ICEYE for the supply of SAR satellites, software and ground infrastructure. In September 2025, a contract was signed with the Finnish Ministry of Defense in the amount of 158 million euros. In June 2025, the Dutch Air Force selected ICEYE as the supplier of four devices with a resolution of 25 cm and a mobile segment with AI elements. Portugal acquired two ICEYE devices in June and December 2025. In December 2025, an agreement was announced with the Rheinmetall-ICEYE consortium to supply space intelligence data to the Bundeswehr under a contract worth about 1.7 billion rubles. euro.
