Rheinmetall ICEYE Builds Germany's Sovereign Space ISR

Sovereign space reconnaissance Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions Bundles Germany’s New Space Expertise

2026-06-14 Source: Press release Rheinmetall, adapted by 2 min Reading Time

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Rheinmetall and ICEYE are building a new space-based reconnaissance capability for Germany through their joint venture, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions GmbH. Initial partners include leading German New Space companies Reflex Aerospace, OroraTech, ConstellR, and LiveEO.

Modern conflicts are determined by how quickly critical data becomes available. Space-based reconnaissance, AI-powered processing, and rapid target acquisition are no longer future visions – they define today’s operational reality. Strategic autonomy in space has become an immediate operational requirement: the ability to independently collect, process, and react to sovereign information on a large scale is a prerequisite for credible and state-of-the-art defence.

"The challenge is not access to data – it is networking existing capabilities to enable cross-domain operational decision-making. Germany already possesses the technological building blocks for sovereign space-based reconnaissance. Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions integrates these into a single operational architecture," said Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall.

"Europe’s security depends on what Europe can see. We have already proven that a sovereign space system can be operational within twelve months – now, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions is building on this foundation, combining Germany’s best New Space capabilities in an open architecture. This is how Europe creates true strategic autonomy from space," said Rafał Modrzewski, co-founder and CEO of ICEYE.

Open architecture

For the first time, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions integrates key competencies from the German New Space and defence ecosystem into a unified, end-to-end architecture for space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR). This partnership therefore immediately unlocks a unique multimodal Earth observation capability.

Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions acts as a catalyst for the German space innovation ecosystem, transforming cutting-edge capabilities into a functioning, integrated system. By integrating sensors, analytics, command support, and operational impact across the domains of space, air, land, sea, and cyber, space-based reconnaissance is made usable wherever decisions are made.

The approach deliberately follows an open architecture. The goal is not to create isolated units but to build an open, resilient, expandable, and long-term sovereign ISR platform. The partnership lays the foundation for scalable, long-term security and defence capabilities in Germany and Europe.

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