On Wednesday, March 23, Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak wrote on Twitter that Poland is increasing the reconnaissance capabilities of the Polish Army. “In the next months, we will sign an agreement with the partners from France for 2 observation satellites with a receiving station in Poland, which will be part of the wider constellation of satellite Earth observation.”

The solution announced by Minister Błaszczak expanding Polish reconnaissance capabilities will be probably a component of a wider constellation of image recognition, which also includes smaller objects currently under construction in Poland.

For several years, the Ministry of National Defense has been looking for solutions that would allow the Polish army to access the satellite reconnaissance. Last year, the company Creotech Instruments, in cooperation with the Military University of Technology, started developing a constellation of three satellites.

The undertaking is carried out as part of the PIAST (Polish ImAging SaTellites) project, which is part of the plan to develop a national satellite Earth observation system for the Polish army. PIAST is a project carried out under the Szafir program. Its task is to better use the potential of cooperation between scientific units and private entrepreneurs in development of modern solutions of key importance for the security and defense of the state.

The project is financed by the National Center for Research and Development and implemented by a consortium of companies and research institutions: Creotech Instruments S.A., Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Scanway, Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Aviation, PCO S.A. (a company of The Polish Armaments Group). The work of the consortium is managed by the Military University of Technology.

Adrian Andrzejewski