Iceye and Nokia partner with Ukraine to develop satcom capability
iceye.comHow do I pronounce that first one? Icy Eye? Ice Ye? I See?
Regardless, I'm glad to see European alternatives to the usual US based suspects, but it's still falling into the same pattern of corporate military providers. It's not really Sovereign intelligence, it's just private intelligence based in Europe.
"Ice eye" - it started as project to see if SAR could be used to monitor ice features in the artic
The weapons militaries use are also manufactured by corporations.
The question to ask is whether there's a hand-off; who operates the corporation operates the final system. It's completely plausible this is meant to be a product that is sold, not a service that is subscribed to.
https://www.iceye.com/newsroom/press-releases/iceye-and-noki... specifically says "give nations ownership and control of the satellites"
This is the first step in having a Ukrainian-controlled alternative to Starlink & Starshield, which will be arbitrary restricted any time Musk and the Trump administration are upset with you.
Between this, Eutelsat’s existing constellation, and the upcoming IRIS² and Project Bromo constellations both Ukraine and the rest of Europe should be able to be completely independent of Starlink & Starshield.
Though, predictably, the US is warning European countries of serious but unspecified ‘consequences’ should they do this.
I wonder if it'll be ready before Trump is out.