Following the signing of the Hansa Agreement on defence cooperation by Germany and Norway in February, the Rheinmetall AG and Space Norway AS announced that the two companies would be collaborating on the development of solutions for maritime situational awareness.
To this end, the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of satellite technology for defence applications. Rheinmetall particularly emphasises the key areas of satellite communications and sensors, as well as integration into existing military systems.
Rheinmetall and the Finnish satellite company ICEYE have been working together since 2025 as part of the joint venture Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions GmbH.
ICEYE has extensive expertise in the field of synthetic aperture radar (SAR). However, the radars installed on ICEYE satellites operate only in the X-band, which enables high-resolution imagery of relatively small areas.
Space Norway, on the other hand, specialises in C-band SAR technology, which offers lower resolution but makes it possible to survey larger areas. This capability is of particular interest in the maritime sector, where, in addition to individual targets, large swathes of the sea need to be monitored – for example, in the Baltic Sea.
Rheinmetall hopes that using the two frequency bands will enhance its ability to produce situational awareness pictures.
The collaboration between Rheinmetall and Space Norway marks a further step towards enhancing Europe’s strategic autonomy in the defence sector. ICEYE satellites are also being manufactured at Rheinmetall’s site in Neuss, including for the German Armed Forces, which are set to receive reconnaissance data from the joint venture as part of the multi-year SPOCK-1 programme.
Rheinmetall’s collaboration with Space Norway is also initially aimed at the Bundeswehr as a customer, although the intention is that other allies will also benefit from the systems developed in the long term.
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