8 In May, Rheinmetall signed an ownership agreement with Iceye 60% joint venture, which aims to establish a satellite manufacturing facility in Neuss, Germany, where Rheinmetall is implementing its plans to expand its space activities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, and its outcome remains subject to final agreements and regulatory approvals.
According to the Stockholm International Institute for the Study of Peace Problems (SIPRI), in 2024 world military spending reached a record high 2,7 trillion dollars, what on 9,4% more, than in the previous year, and is the sharpest annual growth since the end of the Cold War. SIPRI noted, that last year more than 100 countries increased their defense budgets, as sovereign capabilities come to the fore on the political agenda.
Germany's military spending increased by 28% to 88,5 A billion dollars, making it the largest defense supplier in Western Europe for the first time in a decade, second only to the United States, China and Russia. The joint venture came a few months after that, how Germany amended the constitution, by lifting the cap on defense spending in the amount 1% GDP. The reform is part of a massive infrastructure and security investment plan worth around one trillion euros (1,12 trillions of dollars) over the next decade.
Space is critical for both infrastructure, and for safety, stated 9 April, a few weeks after the adoption of the reform, Walter Pelzer, head of the German space agency DLR. Increased spending will help Germany become a stronger partner within the European Union, and will strengthen bilateral and multilateral ties outside the bloc. At that time, how the US revises its role in the field of global security, The European Commission also recently announced plans to mobilize the 800 billions of euros to strengthen the region's defense capabilities, and a significant part, as expected, will be allocated to space.
The joint venture also marks another milestone in the ever-growing partnership between Iceye and Rheinmetall, which reported almost 11 billions of dollars of income in 2024 year and has over 31 000 workers. In June, Rheinmetall announced its entry into the space sector with a deal to integrate Iceye radar data into tactical combat systems.
In September, Rheinmetall received exclusive rights to sell Iceye's SAR technology to military and government customers in Germany and Hungary. In November, with the support of the German government, two companies signed a contract to supply Ukraine with high-resolution satellite images to help defend against the ongoing Russian invasion.
Expected, that production under the joint venture will begin by the end of June 2026 year. Companies declare, that the initiative can be expanded later, including other space capabilities.
Founded in 2014 year, Iceye operates one of the world's largest constellations of radar satellites, equipped (SAR). Among the partners of the Finnish operator is Space42 from the UAE, which uses SAR satellites to create a hybrid communications and Earth observation platform, that combines data analytics and communications.
Source: https://spacenews.com/german-defense-firm-partners-with-iceye-to-build-sar-satellites/