Poland has signed a contract to buy two French military satellites and a receiving station, the defence ministry announced on Tuesday. The satellites will come under the Polish flag by 2027, but Warsaw will be able to use French observation systems immediately.
The contract, which includes the purchase of Airbus Defence and Space’s IMINT Pléiades Neo optical satellites, their launch, and access to French data until then, amounts to €575 million.
“Eventually, our Polish satellites will operate within the French constellation, which will further enhance reconnaissance capabilities,” said Poland’s defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak at the signing ceremony in Warsaw, speaking alongside his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu.
The satellites will allow imaging reconnaissance data to be acquired with an accuracy of up to 30 cm, and their operating as part of a constellation will enable a much larger area to be covered.
“This is an extremely important capability, (and) extremely important opportunity to complement all that is related to deterrence, but also all that is related to early warning, both military and civilian,” Błaszczak said, adding that the observation system can be useful in case of natural disasters.
The observation system is expected to cover the area of Poland’s eastern border, where it neighbours Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. To the northeast, Poland also borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
“The current situation shows how important it is for each country to be autonomous in its assessment of the situation,” said Lecornu.
According to Colonel Krzysztof Płatek, spokesman for Poland’s Armaments Agency, the value of the contract totals €575 million, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. The amount covers the cost of the satellites, their launch by 2027, and the provision of data to French observation systems as of 2023.
Bilateral talks also took place during the meeting. The defence ministers raised issues of cooperation within international formats – NATO, the European Union and the Visegrad Group – as well as issues of bilateral military cooperation.
They also discussed issues relating to the security situation in the region, including talks about providing joint aid to Ukraine. The ministers also discussed the possibility of launching the production of French helicopters in Poland.
“We are allies, we are friends, there are many forms of cooperation between Poland and France, for example in what we can do together to support Ukraine,” said Błaszczak.
Minister Lecornu will travel to Ukraine on Wednesday, where he will also meet his counterpart Oleksii Reznikov, the minister said on Twitter.
Puis, je serai à Kiev mercredi pour une réunion de travail avec @oleksiireznikov. Notre soutien à l’Ukraine est continu depuis le début de la guerre. https://t.co/ugAd7tDdBj
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) December 26, 2022
Main photo credit: Maciej Nędzyński / Defence Ministry
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
