Satellites for the frontline: Ukraine will launch a space programme with partners in 2026

Ukraine will start joint development of satellites for defence purposes with international partners in 2026. The plans are envisaged in the ten-year roadmap of the Ministry of Defence.

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This was announced by Deputy Minister of Defence for Digital Development Kateryna Chornohorenko. Before starting satellite development, Ukraine has to go through three key stages: audit the existing space infrastructure, identify critical needs, and develop strategic documents. These steps are scheduled for 2025-2026.

Starting in 2026, Ukraine will work with partners to build satellites and develop a space situational awareness system for integration into defence technologies. The ultimate goal is to create a full-fledged satellite constellation by 2035 that will provide operational analytics and become part of global security projects.

In short, to implement this roadmap, the Ministry of Defence created the Space Policy Directorate at the end of March.

"It will bring together all space-related stakeholders in one place and combine their efforts. We are talking about space enterprises, international partners, commercial companies, the scientific community and, of course, the defence forces," she explained.

The Office will work in three areas: legislative framework, technological expertise and coordination of space support.

As a reminder, in October 2022, the governments of Ukraine and the Czech Republic agreed to create a defence cluster. A joint satellite project has been launched within its framework. One of its key components is the Drak satellite, which is being developed specifically for the Armed Forces of Ukraine by the Czech Brno Space Cluster in cooperation with Ukrainian specialists. The project integrator is the Czech TRL Space.

Source: Militarnyi