DSEI UK 2025: ICEYE launches ISR Cell, SAR at the tactical edge

ICEYE has launched the ISR Cell, a mobile, containerised unit designed to provide tactical echelons with direct access to space-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR) intelligence. The announcement, made on September 10, during DSEI UK 2025, marks a genuinely significant step in the way that armed forces can access space-based reconnaissance. Calibre Defence met with Joost Elstak, VP for Mission at ICEYE during the exhibition to learn more about the announcement and the company’s trajectory. 

“This idea came about from Ukraine, where we have seen the users of our satellites shift from traditional intelligence analysts to the frontline,” Joost explained, taking a few minutes away from the crowds to meet in the Media Centre. “The idea is that a nation would have dozens of these containers so they can hold them at the battalion level or higher. It opens up options, they could set it up next to a fire control centre for example.” 

Ukraine received an ICEYE satellite at the start of the war which was bought through crowd-funding, and provided with access to a second through government funding. This has enabled a revisit rate of Ukraine’s dedicated satellites around 2.5 times a day, it has also made use of the rest of ICEYE’s constellation, with the company having launched  54 satellites to date. Ukrainian media has also reported that up to 40% of the 5,000 SAR images taken by Ukraine’s satellites have been used in precision strikes. 

The ISR Cell is a container-based system that has been demonstrated in NATO exercises. It is an end-to-end system that allows for satellite tasking, data downlink, and analysis on tactical timelines. “It’s a very compact capability, essentially a mobile ground segment. You have somebody processing the data, controlling the satellites, and a comms person,” Joost explained. “As soon as the satellite comes over the horizon you can task it and in 10-15 minutes you will have your intelligence.”  

Revisit rates are key for satellite reconnaissance, and especially so when the goal is tactical intelligence. Typically, satellite reconnaissance would be held at a much higher level of command and processed before being passed down. For a tactical target, a battalion preparing to cross a river for instance, that process may be too slow for a brigade or battalion to act on it. So, the more frequently a satellite constellation revisits an area of operations, and the greater the image swath it is able to capture (along with a few other things like inclination, altitude, and so on), the more frequently a user can capture images of a given area. 

With its growing constellation and recent introduction of the Gen4 satellites, ICEYE is able to offer sub-15 minute revisit times in some cases. The higher imaging throughput of the Gen4 satellites “increases the per-pass image count, making sub-15-minute revisit performance more accessible,” the company said on its new capability, adding that it has a simultaneous uplink and downlink with a bandwidth up to 700 Mbs, “enabling tasking, acquisition, and delivery within the same pass for near real-time monitoring.” 

The ISR Cell is designed to work with any ICEYE mission, including sovereign or company-operated systems. This is important as some countries, including the Netherlands, have bought ICEYE satellites to provide a sovereign capability, rather than simply procuring imagery from the company’s own constellation. The ISR Cells are already in production, with first customer deliveries scheduled for early 2026, according to the ICEYE press release. 

Software-defined reconnaissance

“I often tell our clients that these satellites are the least capable ICEYE satellites you will ever get,” Joost laughed, comparing the technology to a Tesla car. “All of the updates under Gen4 were done with software improvements, with some new hardware,” he explained. The cadence of press releases indicates he is telling the truth. ICEYE announced its new 25 cm resolution satellite in December 2024, and began launching Gen4 satellites in early 2025, with plans to put 20+ satellites into orbit by the end of the year. Scan Wide mode was announced in August this year, marking the system’s ability to capture a single image covering 60,000 square kilometres. 

Then, in early September, ICEYE launched Detect and Classify, an SAR analysis product launched in cooperation with the company SATIM. It uses AI to help detect and classify objects in an SAR image, providing a confidence assessment at the same time. Detect and Classify can be installed in the ISR Cell, further increasing the speed of tactical reconnaissance. Finally, at DSEI, the Gen4 satellites were declared to be commercially available and capable of providing 16 cm resolution imagery – a 36% increase over the already very capable 25 cm resolution announced earlier in the year. 

“Gen4 was built to process high quality imagery in high volumes and high resolution. They include some new hardware and they are software-defined so new capabilities can be added through software updates.” This is now the driving force behind satellite capabilities. Perhaps the most well-known example is the Starlink constellation, which was reportedly upgraded with improved software to counter Russian jamming. Others are following suit through partnerships, such as Helsing’s announced plans with Loft Orbital. 

“We are trying to go further with our revisit times, increasing the constellation so that we can get down to a 15 minute revisit time for everyone. That means more production; we can build 20-25 satellites per year because our supply chain is vertically integrated. But, the increased interest in sovereign systems means we have to increase that production,” Joost told me, reflecting on the nicer challenges that might face the VP of a business unit like his.

Calibre comment

The US Army is also working on integrating space-based reconnaissance from state and commercial providers into its tactical formations. The vehicle through which that happens is known as the Tactical Intelligence Targeting Access Node (TITAN). TITAN is designed to take intelligence inputs from the land, air, and space, integrate them into a single understanding of the operational environment, and provide targeting assistance to a commander. It is enabled by artificial intelligence including machine learning algorithms, the purpose of which is unclear, although it likely includes the ability to detect and recognise targets, and to fuse information into a single recognisable picture. 

However, and it is quite a big however, TITAN is designed to support the commander of a Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF). An MDTF is a US Army formation that is essentially a theatre-level asset, because it is equipped with missiles that can strike targets up to 2,000 km away. This means it has to have access to space-based reconnaissance. It would not be able to target things at that range without it. TITAN could likely support the shorter-range assets in and MDTF too, like the M142 HIMARS and SM-6 missile, which can reach up to around 500 km. But the MDTF is not a regular battalion or even a regular brigade in terms of its capability. 

Enabling European brigades with SAR that is accessible in close to real-time would give them all-weather targeting and reconnaissance. This could genuinely stand to offer transformative benefits to the way that brigade and divisional commanders conduct their reconnaissance. It may enable them to build their understanding of the battlefield in a way that is difficult for other forms of reconnaissance to match. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on September 16, 2025. Credit for the lead image is ICEYE. It shows the ISR Cell.