The partnership expects to launch as many as 50 LEO satellites a year from 2028, Nokia CEO Justin Hotard and ICEYE CEO Rafal Modrzewski told Bloomberg in a joint interview.
Under the deal, nations will own and control the satellites, ground segment and terminals. The systems will support missions ranging from defence and border security to emergency services and disaster response, and the companies describe them as dual-use.
The systems are designed to keep defence forces, first responders and civil authorities connected when terrestrial networks are disrupted or compromised. They will provide targeted high-throughput, low-latency connectivity over priority mission areas and are intended to complement existing military and commercial networks rather than replace them.
Who does what
ICEYE, which says it operates the world’s largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, will contribute its experience delivering sovereign satellite missions. Nokia brings secure networking technology and its expanding defence portfolio. Together the companies will integrate satellites, ground infrastructure and ruggedised end-user terminals, extending ICEYE’s sovereign business model from space-based intelligence into communications.
Modrzewski said nations must be able to control their communications “without dependency on a foreign commercial operator’s terms of service”. He cited ICEYE’s delivery of a radar satellite system to Poland in under a year, adding that the partnership would let it “move at a similar speed” for satellite communications.
Hotard said physical AI enables real-time sovereign operations, but only with “secure, resilient connectivity across land, sea, air and space”.
Europe’s sovereignty push
The announcement comes as European governments accelerate efforts to reduce dependence on US-owned constellations such as SpaceX’s Starlink.
The EU’s IRIS² programme will comprise 348 satellites, 330 in LEO and 18 in medium Earth orbit. EU Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius has said he expects initial IRIS² services by 2029. In the meantime, the EU’s GOVSATCOM programme, operational since January 2026, pools secure satellite capacity from member states.
Eutelsat has also been expanding its OneWeb constellation. It ordered 340 LEO satellites from Airbus in January and announced plans to procure a further 229 at the International Space Summit in Paris in September.
Nokia’s defence expansion
The deal extends Nokia’s push into defence. Last month, Nokia Defense partnered with C3IA to accelerate digital transformation across UK defence operations. Its wider defence portfolio includes battlefield connectivity work with KNDS and counter-drone connectivity for the Finnish Border Guard. Nokia has previously worked on satellite connectivity with AST SpaceMobile and the European Space Agency.
The companies did not disclose financial terms, launch providers or first customers. Hotard and Modrzewski will speak at the Helsinki Security Forum on 2 October in a session on European technological sovereignty.
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