The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine signed a letter of intent with the Finnish company ICEYE and telecommunications equipment manufacturer Nokia on the development of sovereign satellite communications. The future system is intended to provide Ukraine with secure communications that it will be able to control independently. This was reported by ICEYE's press service, UNN writes.
Details
The cooperation involves studying the possibility of creating satellite infrastructure for Ukraine's defense and security needs. This concerns systems that will allow communications to be maintained even if ground networks are damaged or destroyed.
At the beginning of October, ICEYE and Nokia had already announced a partnership to develop secure broadband satellite communications systems in low Earth orbit (LEO). Such solutions provide for state control over the satellites, ground infrastructure, and terminals.
What Ukraine's cooperation with Nokia and ICEYE entails
ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski emphasized that Ukraine needs an independent satellite communications system that it will be able to control on its own.
Ukraine needs secure, sovereign, and high-performance satellite communications systems that it controls. We have a proven track record of rapidly creating sovereign missions to help build this capability
For his part, Nokia representative Mikko Hautala noted that satellite networks make it possible to maintain communications when ground infrastructure fails.
The signing of the document was announced on October 22 during the visit of the Prime Minister of Finland to Ukraine. At the same time, the parties have not yet announced the timeline for creating the system or its estimated cost.