After receiving the right to own a satellite the situation will be fundamentally different at the front, – Oleksiy Reznikov, Minister of Defense of Ukraine

“The Defense Forces of Ukraine received qualitatively new capabilities thanks to the “people’s satellite”:

Ukrainians once again amazed the world and implemented an unprecedented project.

Now the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and other components of the defense forces will have at their disposal data from the group of satellites of the ICEYE company, which collect information using the Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology.

This will help to inflict damage on the enemy much more effectively and to drive him out of our land faster, while saving the lives of our people.

What happened and why is it really important?

Determining the priorities of defense during the repulsion of Russian aggression, the Ministry of Defense proceeds from the fact that we will not defeat the enemy at the expense of numbers. Only due to quality. Therefore, the main task is to create a qualitative advantage for the Ukrainian army over the enemy.

Specialists of the Ministry of Defense, together with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, analyzed the situation in detail and determined the best option that would allow our army to climb several steps higher.

The fact is that since April, in negotiations with partners, we have especially emphasized the need to receive aid or purchase long-range, high-precision weapons. In June, a kind of tectonic shift occurred in this regard. We began to receive not only MLRS systems of various types but also high-precision projectiles for barrel artillery.

In order to optimally use this new potential and plan operations, the military command needed to significantly increase intelligence capabilities not only at the tactical level but also at the operational level.

At the moment, we receive information from satellites from partners. But these data are mainly from optical satellites, which have their own technological limitations for working at night when it is cloudy, the battlefield is covered with smoke, it is snowing, or there are other obstacles. In addition, this information comes with a certain delay and not from all directions, which at one point or another are important for our military.

Now the situation will be fundamentally different.

Thanks to the Ukrainians who collected funds for “bayraktars”, it was possible to do the following.

First, it was possible to acquire one satellite that uses SAR technology. This satellite, which sees at night and through clouds, etc., will work in the interests of the defense forces of Ukraine 24/7. “Buy” is not an exaggeration. It will acquire information for the defense needs of Ukraine as long as it physically exists and performs its functions.

Secondly, access to a whole constellation of satellites was acquired at the same time, our military will be able to use the database of their photos for a year.

Thirdly, the decoding of the images will be organized in such a way that the data arrives as quickly as possible.

That is, our army will begin to receive information that it could not receive at all before. And will do it quickly, when it is needed, and from where it is needed.

Data from partners will remain an important component of our awareness. This combination will increase the quality of decision-making.

One more important point. The General Staff and Military Intelligence have identified the technical requirements for satellite technologies that would be desirable for our military. During the analysis of specific offers on the market, it was found that the capabilities of the ICEYE company are really powerful. However, they had an equally unattainable value. Therefore, at first, we did not even hope that we would be able to attract them.

In the end, thanks to the Ukrainian entrepreneur Maksym Polyakov, in the process of negotiations, it was possible to obtain such conditions that made the space dream a reality. Our military and intelligence did not hide their joy.

After all, the combination of high-quality intelligence from satellites and the capabilities of high-precision weapons really creates new capabilities.

Let’s say that soon every HIMARS, M270, or MARS II, as well as every gun or self-propelled gun with high-precision projectiles will be able to destroy the enemy more effectively.

Everyone knows how skillfully our soldiers work under the leadership of the military command. Imagine what they will do with the Russian invaders when they get additional opportunities.

This is really good news, which was contributed by ordinary citizens, Ukrainian businesses, volunteers, the Ministry of Defense, military intelligence, and specialists of the General Staff.

Thanks to this unity, Ukraine will surely win!

Many thanks to all involved.

Glory to Ukraine!”

Earlier, in June, thanks to the initiative of the Serhiy Prytula Foundation and blogger Ihor Lachenkov, Ukrainians collected 600 million UAH in a matter of days to buy three “bayraktars” for our army. The manufacturer of the “birds” – the Turkish Company Baykar – with which the Ministry of Defense closely cooperates, acted very noble and decided to hand over three “Bayraktar” UAVs to Ukraine for free.

That is, the army will also receive these drones, along with dozens of other “bayraktars” that have already been delivered and are still ordered by the Ministry of Defense for the future.

After that, there was a meeting with Mr. Serhiy Prytula, during which he proposed to direct the collected funds to other urgent needs of the Ukrainian army.

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