WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland plans to launch a series of military observation satellites in 2025, a deputy defence minister said on Thursday.
"Next year, as the Ministry of Defence and the Polish Army, we want to put our first Polish satellites into orbit," Cezary Tomczyk said during a press briefing.
Poland plans to acquire a satellite system equipped with radar and optical technology that would enable Earth observation regardless of atmospheric conditions and would employ both foreign and domestic technology, he said.
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told the same briefing the country would this year develop a space force among other units, based on lessons learned from Ukraine's experiences since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
"All the actions we are taking this year, creating drone forces, creating space component forces or medical forces, these are actions that strengthen the Polish army and also result from the Ukrainian experience," Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
In December 2022 the Ministry of Defence signed a deal with Airbus for the delivery of two reconnaissance satellites, the launch of which is planned by 2027.
(Reporting by Karol Badohal; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
