At the end of August, Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation informed the AIN.Capital editorial office about the purchase of the ICEYE satellite for Ukrainian Army. More than $16.5 million (600 million hryvnas) were spent on this, which Ukrainians collected as part of the People’s Bayraktar initiative.

Ukraine’s Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov shared the first results of our Army’s aerospace reconnaissance work, noting that the “purchase” exceeded expectations and paid off in just two days.

  • According to the deal, the Ukrainian side has received not only access to the database of the ICEYE constellation of satellites, but also its own satellite that is already in orbit in this region. That means that Ukraine has the opportunity to get the necessary data quickly and continuously, in a 24/7 mode — twice a day from “our” satellite and all other times from almost two dozen other satellites of the company.
  • ICEYE satellites are based on the Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, which allows taking high-resolution images in any weather conditions — despite cloudiness, rain, snow, fog, smoke or nighttime.
  • Previously, EOSDA and its founder Max Polyakov, who were involved in the preparation of the deal, provided AIN.Capital with more details about the technical capabilities of the ICEYE satellite. You can read about them here.

Oleksiy Reznikov highlighted three main points on how ICEYE satellite helps Ukrainian Army:

“Firstly, Ukraine received the ability to combine optical satellite data from partners and SAR data. This fundamentally increases the ability of Ukrainian Army to identify and strike at Russian occupiers. Satellites with SAR technology become especially relevant in autumn and winter when the weather is bad, cloudy or snowy. The enemy has no chances to hide.

Secondly, the Ukrainian military is able to determine where and when to get the necessary data. Currently, systematic monitoring of the main areas of combat operations in the south and east is being carried out.

Thirdly, information flows from analysts to combat units very quickly. It will be more difficult for the Russian occupiers to hide their intentions, as well as complicate their logistics”.

  • According to Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, only in first two days the satellite detected over 60 units of Russians’ military equipment. He said that it would be impossible to notice it using optical satellites.