← all projects
🛡Defencestrategic

MikroSAR – SAR radar satellites for the Polish Army

completed stage: operational delivered
860 mln PLN
contract value · data from 14 May 2025 ≈ 860 mln PLN (value-by-stage, est., nominal)

The Armament Agency's purchase of a satellite radar reconnaissance system for the Polish Army. The contract, worth approx. PLN 860 million gross and signed on 14 May 2025 with a consortium of ICEYE Polska and Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności Nr 1, covered three SAR satellites with an option for a further three, as well as a mobile ground segment. The first satellite reached orbit on 28 November 2025 (Transporter-15 mission), two more on 30 March 2026 (Transporter-16), and a fourth — the first of the exercised contract options — on 3 May 2026 (Falcon 9 from Vandenberg base). In total four satellites were placed in orbit, and on 15 May 2026 the system was officially handed over to the Polish Armed Forces.

How it went

Assessment: provisional. Signals only where documented.

Delivery delivered
Schedule on time
Utilisation too early
Scope as announced
operational use of the reconnaissance system (no public usage indicator — classified system)
0 / 0 (since 2026-05-15 (handover / operational readiness of ARGUS))

Timeline

Ahead: -1 mo.

  1. Construction start 14 May 2025
  2. Original date 2026
  3. Current date 2026
  4. Delivery 15 May 2026

Change history

  • 15 May 2026 stage: operational
  • 28 Nov 2025 stage: commissioning
  • 14 May 2025 stage: construction

Significance

The first sovereign satellite radar reconnaissance system of the Polish Army, operated by the Geospatial Reconnaissance and Satellite Services Agency (ARGUS). The SAR radars image terrain with an accuracy reaching approx. 25 cm per pixel and work both by day and by night as well as despite cloud cover, which reduces the army's dependence on foreign sources of reconnaissance data. The programme was carried out in approx. a year from the signing of the contract — with four satellites launched into orbit — which the defence ministry presents as one of the fastest completed acquisitions in the history of the Polish army.

Sources 8 · 6 archived

Every fact on this card comes from the sources below. Next to each source — which fields it supports.

  1. Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej (gov.pl) 15 May 2026
    StatusStageDeliveryCostStage historyOutcome
    Status „Od momentu zakupu do osiągnięcia gotowości operacyjnej przez jednostkę ARGUS minął zaledwie rok, w trakcie którego wyniesiono na orbitę cztery satelity radarowe."
    Stage „15 maja 2026 roku w Muzeum Wojska Polskiego, wicepremier i minister obrony"
    Construction start „Umowa zawarta 14 maja 2025 roku"
    Investor „firmę ICEYE Polska, lidera konsorcjum, w skład którego wchodzą również Wojskowe Zakłady Łączności Nr 1 S.A. (PGZ)"
  2. ICEYE 15 May 2026
    Construction startDeliveryStageCostSignificanceOutcome
  3. ICEYE 14 May 2025
    CostStage historyInvestor
    Cost „Wartość całego zamówienia wynosi ok. 860 mln zł brutto."
    summary.satellites „opcję zakupu kolejnych trzech satelitów i segmentu naziemnego w ciągu 12 miesięcy."
  4. Space24 14 May 2025
    InvestorOriginal dateCurrent dateCostOutcome
    Original date „zaś start kolejnych jest przewidziany na 2026 r."
  5. Space24 28 Nov 2025
    Stage historyCurrent date
    Stage history „28 listopada br. firma SpaceX przeprowadziła start misji Transporter-15."
  6. ICEYE 30 Mar 2026
    Stage historyOutcome
    summary.baseline_delivered „zaledwie 10 miesięcy po podpisaniu kontraktu, ICEYE dostarcza wszystkie satelity przewidziane w podstawowym zakresie programu"
    Scope „Zaledwie 10 miesięcy po podpisaniu kontraktu, ICEYE dostarcza wszystkie satelity przewidziane w podstawowym zakresie programu"
  7. PAP 13 May 2025
    Investor
  8. Space24 3 May 2026
    StatusStageOutcome
    summary.fourth_satellite „3 maja br. o godz. 9:00 czasu polskiego firma SpaceX przeprowadziła start rakiety Falcon 9."