Since Baykar offered the Ukrainians three TB-2 drones, the 600 million hryvnia collected by a crowdfunding fund was looking for a project to support the Ukrainian Army. This has been done since August 18 because, through a contract, Ukraine now has access to a database of satellite images with metric precision, access to the constellation of ICEYE satellites and exclusive access to the one of these satellites.
Initially, TB-2s…
At the end of May, the Lithuanians launched a crowdfunding fund to finance a TB-2 drone for Ukraine. Faced with the success of this initiative, a Ukrainian artist also launched a fund for the purchase of three TB-2s ( more info in this article ). In the end, Baykar – the company building the TB-2s – decided to offer the four drones to Ukraine. In fact, the 600 million hryvnia (or 16.371 million current euros) collected by the Ukrainians were not used… until August 18th.
… in the end, a satellite!
In a press release published on August 18, the Finnish company ICEYE formalized the signing of a contract with the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation (in charge of raising funds for the TB-2s). The contract calls for ICEYE to transfer one of its Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) observation satellites to Ukraine, but for it to still be managed by ICEYE. On the other hand, all the images taken by the latter will be the sole property of Ukraine.
A SAR satellite is very advantageous for Ukrainians because unlike conventional observation satellites, it can take an image of an area, whether it is cloudy, under a snowstorm or even at night. The idea is that instead of taking a picture, the satellite antenna will illuminate an area with radio waves and pick them up (like radar). The surface of this area can be up to 225 square kilometers and with a resolution close to one meter (some say 0.5 meter precision). The images are transferred to Ukrainians within hours. They also have access to the constellation of ICEYE SAR satellites flying over their territory as well as their database.
The advantage for the Ukrainians is to have a source of intelligence independent of the States already providing them with satellite photos (free choice of an area to be analyzed in very high resolution without going through the various intelligence centers of the countries supporting the Ukraine). The photos will also support the flow of information issued by several countries, such as information from the American RC-135V/W Rivet Joint or E-8C JSTARS ( article on the subject ).
Source: air-cosmos.com