Helsinki, Finland. ICEYE, the global leader in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite operations, together with SATIM, the provider of state-of-the-art solutions for SAR data analytics, September 3 announced the launch of Detect & Classify – an AI-powered product that accelerates the transformation of satellite imagery into actionable intelligence. The product combines ICEYE’s high-resolution SAR imagery with SATIM’s advanced artificial intelligence to automatically detect and classify vessels, aircraft, and vehicles in ICEYE imagery with better than 90% accuracy.
The Detect & Classify product bundles ICEYE imagery with SATIM’s AI-based imagery derivatives, delivering both the SAR image and detections and classifications of objects in the image in a single, high-confidence package. This product delivers a new level of rapid situational awareness across maritime, air, and land domains, providing powerful support to SAR analysts and their missions within the armed forces and intelligence agencies. This product launch follows a successful joint development effort between ICEYE and SATIM, first announced in February 2025.
The Detect & Classify product, brought to market by ICEYE and powered by SATIM’s unique AI capabilities, responds to a long-standing challenge with manual SAR data analysis. Traditionally, defence and intelligence organisations have relied on time-consuming manual analyses of imagery by SAR experts to extract valuable intelligence. Detect & Classify empowers SAR imagery users – no longer just SAR experts – to shorten this cycle by automating the delivery of actionable insights about what the imagery captures. ICEYE routinely delivers imagery within hours or in some cases minutes, and the Detect & Classify derivatives are delivered on the same timelines.
Intelligence analysts can now more quickly establish patterns of behaviour in larger volumes of imagery; tactical teams can rapidly locate and classify assets for targeting, and maritime forces can more effectively identify and intercept illicit “dark vessels.”
“Our goal with Detect & Classify is to empower our customers to make faster, more informed decisions with less effort,” said John Cartwright, Senior VP of Data Product at ICEYE. “This is more than just an analytics tool — we’re eliminating a bottleneck between satellite imagery pixels and decision-making, giving our users near-instant situational awareness. And it’s a transformative step on the path towards ‘lights-out,’ machine-driven satellite imaging operations. That’s a fundamental shift for defense, security, and intelligence operations that use satellite imagery.”
Jacek Strzelczyk, CEO of SATIM, added, “Combining SATIM’s extensive object catalogue with ICEYE’s high-fidelity SAR imagery creates a powerful product that eliminates manual analysis bottlenecks and provides customers with direct access to actionable intelligence, improving situational awareness and accelerating critical decisions. We’ve seen significant uptake of our products with customers around the globe, and this product will expand this benefit to a wider range of customers.”
ICEYE owns and operates the world’s largest SAR satellite constellation, delivering global access and the highest revisit frequency on the market. ICEYE SAR satellites provide 25 cm ground resolution, enabling accurate object detection and classification and situational awareness in all weather and lighting conditions. To date, ICEYE has launched 54 SAR satellites into orbit for its own and customers’ use.
The recent introduction of ICEYE’s new Scan Wide imaging mode further strengthens this capability, allowing for coverage of up to 60,000 km² in a single scene. This broad-area surveillance mode is particularly useful for Detect & Classify in maritime and large-scale monitoring efforts, enabling users to rapidly identify areas of interest before tasking higher-resolution modes for more detailed analysis.
For India, Detect & Classify holds relevance as the nation enhances its surveillance and monitoring capabilities across sensitive land borders and vast maritime zones in the Indian Ocean Region. The product directly supports India’s growing emphasis on space-based intelligence for defence, security, and disaster response applications. ICEYE has already established a strong presence in India and outlined a focused strategy that includes deepening collaborations with government, defence, and commercial stakeholders. While continuing to explore future investments and technology partnerships to strengthen the country’s indigenous space and security ecosystem.
