Germany’s army is poised to order 40 low-Earth orbit satellites from a joint venture between Rheinmetall AG and Iceye Oy, a deal worth approximately €3 billion that is pending final approval.
The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is enlisting satellites that will be able to jam other spacecraft and inspect objects in space. According to the Germany newspaper Handelsblatt, on October 24th, Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger was quoted as saying the contract calls for 40 satellites to be delivered to the Bundeswehr in the next two years.and it wants to do so on tight deadlines.
The satellites will provide high-resolution radar imagery, known as Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), to bolster the German Bundeswehr’s reconnaissance and intelligence capabilities. This initiative is part of a larger, €35 billion investment by Germany to enhance its space-based defense systems by 2030.
TerraSAR-X orbits the Earth at an altitude of 514 kilometers in a polar orbit. With its active antenna, it acquires novel and high-quality X-band radar data from all over the Earth. TerraSAR-X operates independently of weather conditions, cloud cover and daylight and is able to provide radar data with a resolution of up to one meter.