The Architecture for Resilient and Federated ISR in Sovereign Europe (ARISE), a European sovereign intelligence consortium led by Iceye, will conduct an architecture design study for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the EU Earth Observation Governmental Service (EOGS) under the terms of a new strategic partnership announced Friday.
The study will take place over 20 months as part of the European Resilience from Space (ERS) initiative. The goal of the study is to define a blueprint for a sovereign, space-based intelligence system serving European civil security and defense users. The current geopolitical climate makes access to sovereign space-based intelligence a priority for Europe in its effort to obtain strategic autonomy. The study’s results will inform EOGS implementation under the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework for 2028–2034.
“Europe cannot defend what it cannot see,” Iceye CEO and Co-Founder Rafał Modrzewski said in the announcement. “The study awarded today will help fundamentally define Europe’s future architecture for resilience and security – the first step toward a federated system of interoperable sovereign space capabilities delivering European-scale security and situational awareness. We are proud to work closely with European institutions to help build an environment in which Europe’s technology companies can scale in Europe, become global champions, and ensure that critical sovereign capabilities remain firmly in European hands.”
The ARISE consortium includes European space companies across the industrial supply chain, including Iceye, Indra Space, Rheinmetall, and Hisdesat as the core team, supported by Starion, T-systems, SafranAI, Rheinmetall ICEYE Space Solutions (RISS), Creotech Instruments, CTI Aeroespacial, FSO Instruments, OroraTech and Unseenlabs.
