Due anni fa una iniziativa di crowdfunding aveva permesso al governo Ucraino di acquistare da ICEYE un satellite SAR già in orbita oltre che l’accesso alle immagini raccolte dal resto della costellazione.
So, what exactly did Ukraine get for the $17M? The ICEYE’s press release states that Ukraine’s Armed Forces will get access to the data from the entire constellation of SAR satellites for a year. And ICEYE will also transfer full capabilities of one of its SAR satellites already in orbit for the Government of Ukraine’s use over the region. The satellite will still be operated by ICEYE though.
Il comunicato stampa di ICEYE:
ICEYE Signs Contract to Provide Government of Ukraine with Access to Its SAR Satellite Constellation
Nei giorni scorsi il GUR ucraino ha pubblicato un comunicato in cui fornisce un po’ di dati sull’impiego di questi satelliti e alcune immagini degli obiettivi russi.
Results of Using “People’s Satellite” ICEYE
Qui un articolo di The War Zone che riassume la vicenda.
The spy agency said that 38% of the nearly 4,200 images collected by a satellite provided for Ukrainian use in August 202 by the California-based ICEYE company were used to strike Russian targets during that period. The satellite has taken images over both Ukraine and Russia.
“During the period of use of the ‘people’s satellite’ and access to the ICEYE satellite constellation, our specialists took a total of 4,173 pictures of enemy objects,” said GUR. That includes 370 airfields, 238 air defense and radio technical intelligence positions, 153 oil depots and fuel warehouses, 147 missile, aviation weapons and ammunition warehouses and 17 naval bases.