Japan to provide radar imagery from its SAR satellites to Ukraine

Japanese space research organization Q-shu University Institute of Space (iQPS) will begin providing radar imagery from its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR). The agreement was signed last week, following negotiations between Japanese and Ukrainian officials that began in late February, Militarist Telegram channel reports.

The talks on the subject intensified on March 6, when the United States temporarily halted intelligence-sharing with Ukraine. Although Washington later resumed its support, the discussions with Japan continued.

iQPS currently has five Earth observation radar satellites in orbit and plans to launch a seventh by the end of 2026. However, both sides have given themselves two to three months to install the necessary programming and receiving tools at GUR to enable data integration from iQPS satellites.

Meanwhile, Tokyo reaffirmed its pledge to provide $1 billion in aid to Kyiv to compensate for the reduction in U.S. financial support. The GUR is actively working to reduce its dependence on American satellite imagery in case Washington once again cuts off its assistance. With iQPS onboard, Ukraine’s radar intelligence future appears promising, complementing data already received from Finnish company Iceye, and to a lesser extent from Germany (SAR-Lupe and SARah) and Italy (Cosmo-SkyMed and Cosmo-SkyMed 2). Combined, these systems could potentially surpass the volume of radar images previously provided by the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, either directly or via commercial partners like Capella Space and Umbra.

However, when it comes to optical satellite reconnaissance, Ukraine still lacks access to the full spectrum of capabilities. Despite access to Airbus Group’s Pléiades Neo satellites and extended imaging rights from France’s CSO satellites, Ukraine significantly trails behind what the U.S. provided—both directly and through commercial imagery from Maxar and BlackSky under contracts with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. No European operator currently matches the U.S. in terms of daily optical data availability or real-time streaming access. Even after officially resuming data flows in early March, Washington continued to restrict the resolution of detailed imagery of Russian territory shared with Kyiv.

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iQPS (Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, Inc.) is a Japanese satellite manufacturer and operator. The company was founded as a spin-off company of Kyushu University in 2005. As of November 2023, the company operated three Earth observation satellites, each equipped with a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR). iQPS was founded by Tetsuo Yasaka, Noboru Sakurai and Kunihiro Funakoshi in 2005 to promote the space industry in Kyushu. By 2013, with its members aging, the trio were considering to close the company when Shunsuke Onishi, then a graduate student studying at Kyushu University approached them intending to join iQPS. Onishi was hired on two conditions: that he become the company's CEO, and that he come up with a viable business plan. Onishi's idea was to build small SAR satellites and conduct real time observation of Earth. The company's first satellite, IZANAGI was successfully launched by a PSLV rocket in 2019.