Helsinki, Finland. ICEYE, the global leader in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite operations, October 30 announced the launch of Tactical Access, a new commercial SAR product.
Tactical Access is a subscription tasking product for customers with large annual imagery volumes requiring short tasking timelines, high planning flexibility, and prompt imagery delivery. Tactical Access includes an optional customer ground station, which provides users with direct downlink and imagery delivery within minutes. With Tactical Access, customers gain full tasking control over the industry’s largest and highest-resolution commercial SAR imaging fleet.
Traditional industry satellite tasking models rely on first-in, first-out (FIFO) scheduling. FIFO is suitable for many applications but cannot adapt to late-breaking intelligence needs and time-sensitive imaging targets. Tactical Access removes this constraint for product subscribers by providing reserved imaging capacity that guarantees availability on short notice for critical operations.
For image delivery, Tactical Access offers two options. First, customers may purchase a dedicated ground station consisting of an antenna and proprietary ICEYE Edge processor, enabling direct downlink of imagery data and delivery of finished imagery products within minutes after raw image data are downlinked from the spacecraft.
A dedicated ground station also allows customers to maintain sole custody of image data following collection, a feature well-suited to national security requirements. Alternatively, in lieu of a dedicated ground station, customers may leverage secure cloud-based image delivery and receive finished imagery within hours following collection.
Tactical Access users will enjoy all the benefits of ICEYE’s industry-best imagery capabilities, including up to 16 cm resolution imagery from ICEYE’s Generation 4 satellites and large-footprint modes such as Scan Wide (200 km x 300 km). Uniquely, Tactical Access customers also benefit from ICEYE’s electronic beam-steering technology, enabling dozens of high-resolution scenes captured in only minutes of satellite imaging time. Tactical Access exposes all these options through an easy-to-use user interface optimised for planning high volumes of imagery collections.
John Cartwright, Senior VP of Data Product at ICEYE, stated, “Tactical Access serves the demanding needs of our imagery power users around the globe by breaking the paradigm of the traditional imagery planning and delivery model. We have high-volume national security customers requiring significant planning flexibility and very short tasking planning-to-delivery timelines. Tactical Access is the industry’s best product for these needs, providing access to the industry’s finest SAR imagery with maximum flexibility.”
