NATO to Enhance Satellite Monitoring of Ukraine and Eastern Flank
NATO is expanding its satellite surveillance capabilities to track large areas, which will allow the alliance to monitor military movements in Ukraine and on Russia's borders with eastern member states, said Admiral Pierre Vandier, commander of NATO's Allied Command Transformation.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to Bloomberg.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced late Wednesday evening that it had selected US satellite imagery provider Planet Labs for a new initiative called Smart Indication And Warning Broad Area Detection (SINBAD).
Vandier explained that with the new tool, the alliance will monitor “vast territories,” allowing it to track maneuvers, troop movements, and operations on the battlefield.
Commenting on the concerns of countries on the alliance's eastern flank, the admiral expressed uncertainty that the Russians would stop at Ukraine, adding that now, “We will be able to tell them: we are watching.”
The alliance began developing space surveillance after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. SINBAD is a pilot project launched ahead of a larger deployment of NATO space surveillance planned for January 2026, the publication quotes an alliance representative as saying.
Its goal is to regularly and frequently scan sectors of the Earth's surface throughout the year, with artificial intelligence helping to identify and report any changes.
According to Bloomberg, the ability to monitor compliance with a potential ceasefire in Ukraine has been a central concern for Europeans. A coalition of willing countries led by France and the UK is currently exploring options for implementing monitoring and hopes to enlist the support of the US.
A NATO representative, who wished to remain anonymous, told the publication that this technology could also be used to monitor the Arctic, which is of great importance to NATO as Russian and Chinese ambitions in the region grow.
As The Gaze reported earlier, the German Intelligence Service (BND) and Armed Forces have learned that Russia is preparing for a major war with NATO.