Finland and Sweden, now key NATO members, are ramping up Arctic surveillance in response to growing Russian activity by leveraging the complementary strengths of Finnish SAR satellite operator ICEYE and the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC). ICEYE’s all-weather, day-night imaging capabilities and SSC’s global ground station network, Arctic launch infrastructure, and mission operations make them a strategic Nordic ISR pairing. Their newly signed Letter of Intent aims to combine satellite payloads, ground systems, and potential launch services to bolster sovereign and alliance intelligence capabilities in the High North, reports Brandon J. Weichert of The National Interest. Although still exploratory, the partnership reflects a wider Nordic effort to close ISR gaps in the Arctic, counter Russian dominance, and position Europe as a stronger competitor in the new space-security landscape. Weichert writes:

ICEYE is a Finnish-based firm that builds and operates a large constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites. SAR technology allows imaging of the Earth’s surface regardless of weather or illumination—critical for Arctic operations, where polar night, storms, and low-sun angles complicate optical imagery.

The firm has rapidly expanded, becoming a key player in sovereign intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) markets for governments and alliances. For instance, in March of this year, ICEYE announced it will provide data to NATO’s Situation Center in Brussels, reinforcing its role in allied ISR. […]

ICEYE’s advanced ISR capabilities are not the only ones in Scandinavia. They are supplemented by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), a provider of advanced space services, such as satellite ground station operations, mission control, launch-service facilitation, and spaceport operations (including through its Esrange Facility) in the Arctic and northern latitude region. […]

On November 20 of this year, ICEYE and SSC signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) at the NATO Arctic Space Forum in Helsinki. The LOI commits the two firms to explore closer cooperation.

They agreed to cooperate in areas like joint mission development—such as designing new satellite and ISR missions—as well as satellite operations wherein ICEYE’s SAR payloads are leveraged and paired more closely with SSC’s impressive ground network. Of course, SSC is also bringing in launch-capability access while ICEYE will be providing the payload and constellation side of the new partnership.

Read more here.