Japan Will Provide Satellite Imagery to Ukraine

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Kyushu University Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space in Japan agreed to provide synthetic aperture radar imagery to Ukraine’s military intelligence agency.

In February, Japan and Ukraine began to discuss the possibility that Japan might provide support. The USA abruptly paused its flow of intelligence and arms to Ukraine in early March. With any resumption of USA intelligence no longer regarded as reliable, new sources of intelligence data for Ukraine became urgent and imperative.

This is the first time Japan has ever provided direct intelligence-sharing to a country that is at war. Since World War II, Japan has tended to be adamantly pacifist and has strictly limited military engagement abroad. In recent years it has begun to reassess this stance. It has begun to bolster its military and offer more support to allies that are threatened.

iQPS and Ukraine agreed a timeline of two to three months for installation of appropriate software on intelligence platforms used by Ukraine. SAR imagery can show enemy movements and facilities regardless of weather.

Japan will join other countries such as France and the UK which are supplying intelligence data to Ukraine and striving to reduce dependence on the USA. Eutelsat in France is also scaling up in Ukraine to reduce dependence on Elon Musk’s StarLink, which he has sometimes turned off with crippling effects on the Ukrainian military. Eutelsat can replace some, but not yet all, of Ukraine’s 50,000 Starlink terminals.

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