Towards a New International Spatial Intelligence Ecosystem: Focus on the New Japanese-Ukrainian Partnership
We have been increasingly aware of the involvement of certain Asian powers, such as China, North Korea, and South Korea, in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that has now lasted more than three years. A conflict which keeps becoming more and more global as time goes by (1).
But we are less familiar with Tokyo’s growing commitment alongside Kiev.
While Japan firmly condemned the Russian invasion from the start (2), participated in the G7 sanctions policy, and provided humanitarian aid and non-lethal equipment to Ukraine, it took a historic step several months ago by signing a satellite intelligence-sharing agreement with the latter.
This partnership fits within a broader framework established by, on the one hand, the Japan-Ukraine bilateral security agreement of June 13, 2024 — which explicitly provides for “cooperation in the fields of intelligence and protection of classified information” (3) — and, on the other hand, the information security agreement signed on November 16, 2024, which entered into force on June 21st, 2025 and provides a legal framework for both parties to “protect, in accordance with their national laws and regulations, classified information exchanged between the governments of Japan and Ukraine” (4).
But Japan’s announcement on April 21st, 2025, of its first geospatial intelligence sharing with Ukraine marks a true historic turning point that goes beyond the bilateral framework. (GEOINT)
Negotiations begun in late February 2025, then intensified on March 6th after the temporary suspension of American intelligence sharing with Ukraine, between the “Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space” (iQPS), an innovative SME emerging from the university environment of Kyushu in Japan, and the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR/GUR) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, have in fact resulted in an agreement providing for the transfer of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery produced by iQPS satellites.
These data, consisting of high-definition images of 46 centimeters — usable day and night and in all weather conditions — must be provided by a constellation of five satellites with a project to expand to 24 satellites by 2027, the first step toward iQPS’ stated objective of 36 satellites by the 2030’s. The goal is to ensure updates every ten minutes. The integration of these capabilities into Ukrainian intelligence platforms only required a delay of a few months for installing adapted software and achieving full system interoperability (5).
This decision thus implicitly reveals the emergence of a new international spatial intelligence ecosystem, shaped by a reconfiguration of traditional alliances, Japanese geopolitical transformation, and unprecedented technological evolution in this field.
This article highlights the truly historic character of this pioneering agreement in multiple respects.
A Partnership Made Possible by the Reconfiguration of International Alliances: The Emergence of an Extended Spatial Intelligence Coalition
The Ukrainian conflict has revealed the vulnerability of supply chains in general, including regarding the delivery of live intelligence that is absolutely crucial for maintaining an advantage in 21st-century conflicts.
The temporary suspension by the United States of their intelligence sharing with Ukraine in February-March 2025 only reinforced Kiev’s desire to diversify its sources and explore new partnerships.
A new geography of spatial intelligence thus seems to be taking shape.
Europe reacted by proposing various solutions: France confirmed as early as March 6th, 2025, that it was providing military intelligence to Kiev (6), while Germany, Finland, and Italy made their respective SAR constellations available — SAR-Lupe, SARah, ICEYE, and COSMO-SkyMed.
Although significant, this European offer is not sufficient due to the war in Ukraine, and it is therefore in this context of fragmentation and search for alternatives that Japan has emerged as an unexpected but crucial actor, given Ukrainian needs on the battlefield.
It is in fact interesting to highlight that Japan has intensified its security cooperation with Western countries since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, considering that the conflict has direct repercussions on Indo-Pacific stability.
Tokyo has indeed, over recent years, strengthened its ties with European partners through bilateral agreements and increased collaboration (including in intelligence and defense matters), to better respond to renewed tensions and lack of stability in this part of the world.
It is therefore undeniable that one of the consequences of the war in Ukraine is that it has been the catalyst for creating new types of partnerships and strengthening coalitions in the intelligence field between Western allies, with the growing integration of Asian partners like Japan that bring complementary vision and capability on the Indo-Pacific front.
For Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, the security of Europe and that of the Indo-Pacific region are in fact “inseparables”, considering that “today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s East Asia” (7).
In addition to Ukraine’s needs at a time of war, the current evolution seems therefore to show a growing trend toward a global strategic alliance, in which intelligence and security are increasingly shared between Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, in response to the new hybrid threats that directly affect them as well.
Japanese Geopolitical Transformation: Reaffirming the Break with Post-War Pacifist Doctrine
For Japan, this partnership represents an additional step toward a progressive but fundamental break with its post-war doctrine.
Since 1945, Tokyo had until recently maintained a policy of strict limitations on arms exports and, moreover, on intelligence sharing. This pacifist stance, a pillar of its international identity, is now giving way to a more proactive approach regarding the defense of its interests in the Indo-Pacific zone.
Several factors explain this evolution, such as rising tensions in this region. Since the signing in July 2024 of the strategic partnership treaty between North Korea and Russia, fears of destabilization in Northeast Asia have particularly intensified.
Japan’s growing integration into the Quad alliance with the United States, Australia, and India also normalizes more active security cooperation. The war in Ukraine has simultaneously and paradoxically demonstrated the interconnection of European and Asian security theaters, making Japan’s traditional pacifist posture de facto increasingly obsolete.
This transformation is concretely reflected in major legislative reforms.
In 2025, Japan began lifting its prohibitions on dual-use space technologies, paving the way for defense exports and partnerships. Faced with this increase in tensions on the international scene, Japan is indeed betting on the combination of civilian and military technologies to rapidly modernize its armed forces and strengthen its national security. To be noted: this year’s record defense budget of 8.7 trillion Yen (53.7 billion Euros) is up 9.4% from last year (8).
The Japanese government has clearly emphasized the integration of civilian innovation (particularly space-based) into its defensive strategy and wants to rely on its private sector to rapidly strengthen its military and space capabilities in general. Japanese industrial policy therefore now encourages partnerships and exports in the space domain, after a long period of prohibitions and restrictions on these technologies.
At the same time, the government plans to modify the Space Activities Law. This amendment aims to facilitate the expansion of commercial and technological activities, particularly in defense-related applications. It should allow private companies to explore new means of space transportation and strengthen orbital surveillance systems and satellite management.
In addition to willing to provide a modern legislative framework adapted to the growth of the nation’s space industry and national security, Japan has also established since 2023 a space operations unit within its JASDF (Japan Air and Space Defense Forces).
Its main mission is the protection, surveillance, and resilience of national civilian and military satellites against threats, such as anti-satellite capabilities of hostile nations. This unit, installed at Fuchu base, marks the most significant step toward the militarization of Japanese space domain and the pursuit of national autonomy in C4ISR capabilities (command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) (9).
A Partnership Made Possible by Technological Leveling
Towards Low-Cost SAR Radar: A Commercial Revolution
The Japanese-Ukrainian partnership would not have been possible without a major technological revolution, namely the democratization of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR or RSO for “RADAR A SYNTHESE D’OUVERTURE” according to the French acronym).
Traditionally the monopoly of established space powers, this sophisticated technology is becoming accessible thanks to innovations from private actors like iQPS.
The Japanese company has achieved a remarkable technical feat by developing SAR satellites weighing only 100 kg and costing one-hundredth the price of conventional platforms. This revolution is based on a key innovation: a patented 3.6-meter deployable antenna that folds compactly at launch, then deploys in space using spring mechanisms (10).
This bowl-shaped antenna maintains curvature precision that minimizes signal distortion, enabling resolutions of 46 centimeters to be achieved (11).
Fighting the Fog of War, a Decisive Operational Advantage
Unlike traditional optical satellites that require clear skies and daylight, SAR satellites function in any weather condition and can operate at night. For Ukraine, a country at war facing harsh winters and difficult weather conditions, this capability naturally represents a considerable tactical advantage.
The radar can reveal thermal signatures of running engines, detect vehicles camouflaged under vegetation, map terrain changes caused by artillery, monitor troop movements even through smoke or debris (12).
These capabilities have already proven their worth: according to a Ukrainian report from 2024, nearly two-fifths of Finnish ICEYE SAR imagery accessible to Kiev since 2022 reportedly contributed to damage valued in billions of Euros within Russian forces (13).
The iQPS Constellation: Towards Real-Time Surveillance
Another comparative advantage at this stage, iQPS has deployed an ambitious constellation strategy. With five operational satellites as of April 2025, the company plans to reach 24 satellites by 2027, then 36 ultimately. Such a vision should enable observation of any terrestrial point with an average interval of ten minutes, revolutionizing near real-time surveillance (14).
Such a “swarm” approach radically transforms the economics of spatial intelligence. Where traditional satellites, expensive and complex, limited access to major powers, iQPS SAR micro-satellites continue to democratize this capability.
Medium-sized powers like Ukraine can now access cutting-edge technologies without depending exclusively on major historical space actors.
The Japanese Space Ecosystem Full Speed
The iQPS phenomenon is part of a Japanese space ecosystem in full transformation. The company Synspective is notably developing its StriX SAR constellation in partnership with the Japanese space agency JAXA (15).
Meanwhile, in May 2025, ICEYE and Japanese conglomerate IHI signed a cooperation agreement aimed at also developing a 24-satellite SAR constellation in Japan. Designed and operated locally, these satellites will respond to the country’s governmental, military, civil and commercial needs, while strengthening its strategic autonomy in Earth observation (16). This partnership between Finland and Japan, both economic “brothers in arms” of Ukraine, constitutes an evolution where the sky is definitely not the limit…
The government accompanies this dynamic with massive investments: more than 3.5 billion yen allocated to space in the 2025 defense budget, including a real-time surveillance satellite constellation and a new generation secure communications system.
Towards a New Order of Spatial Intelligence: When the Geopolitical Map is Being Redrawn in Space
Due to the multiplication of actors, diversification of technological sources, and weakening of traditional monopolies, the Japanese-Ukrainian partnership and the Finland-Japan-Ukraine cooperation triangle prefigure in a certain way the emergence of a new international spatial intelligence ecosystem.
This evolution responds to a logic of resilience against potential failures of numerous historical partners. It also reflects the adaptation of national security strategies to a world becoming truly multipolar where, for more and more international actors, classic alliances no longer seem capable of guaranteeing their national security.
Indeed, concerning Ukraine, the integration of Japanese SAR data via a two to three-month process represents more than a simple complementary capability surge: it is the assurance of critical redundancy in its intelligence sources.
For Japan, it is the affirmation of its status as a responsible space power, capable of influencing global conflicts through its technological innovations.
Such a new cooperation model, combining private innovation and state diplomacy, could well define the future of international spatial intelligence (17).
In a world where information proves to be a determining factor for conflict outcomes, technological leveling in the military space domain could well redraw the map of geopolitical balances on Earth as Above…
Notes
(1) North Korea’s participation was recently officially confirmed and is to date the most direct, as shown in both the sending of conventional weapons and the deployment of 10 to 12,000 troops to reinforce Russian armed forces. See: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/28/nx-s1-5379436/north-korea-russia-ukraine-troops-putin-kim
(2) See for instance: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/how-asian-countries-are-reacting-to-the-russian-invasion-of-ukraine/
(3) https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/pressite_000001_01389.html
(7) As quoted in: https://www.frstrategie.org/programmes/programme-japon/evolution-situation-ukraine-position-japon-2024
(8) For more information on this issue: https://www.dsei-japan.com/news/dual-use-technologies-take-centre-stage-dsei-japan-2025
(9) See in particular: https://www.gtlaw.com/en/insights/2025/7/japans-basic-policy-2025-strengthens-space-industry ; https://www.atalayar.com/fr/articulo/societe/japon-fuerza-espacial-minimalista-proteccion-ataques-china-rusia-corea/20201015124554147953.html
(10) https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2024/11/sar_satellites_for_disaster_monitoring.html
(11) See the following article on eoportal.org, ESA (European Space Agency) database: https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/qps-sar#space-and-hardware-components
(12) According to the Nepalese information site, theasialive.com, “For the GUR [Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine], the advantages are immense. SAR images can: — Detect troop and vehicle movements, even under camouflage nets. — Identify terrain changes that indicate recent activity, such as trench digging or road construction. — Monitor key logistical routes for fuel, ammunition, or reinforcement convoys.” See: https://theasialive.com/satellite-warfare-japans-iqps-sar-satellites-set-to-strengthen-ukraines-intelligence-arsenal/2025/04/24/
(13) https://gur.gov.ua/en/content/prosto-kosmos-rezultaty-vykorystannia-narodnoho-suputnyka-iceye.html ; https://kyivindependent.com/ukraines-crowdfunded-satellite-took-over-4-000-images-of-russian-facilities-military-intelligence-says/
(14) https://i-qps.net/en/ ; https://spacenews.com/japans-iqps-lines-up-eight-sar-launches/
(15) https://global.jaxa.jp/press/2023/07/20230721-1_e.html ; https://www.thedefensenews.com/news-details/Japan-Steps-In-with-Satellite-Intelligence-Support-for-Ukraine-Amid-Uncertain-US-Backing/
(16) https://www.ihi.co.jp/en/all_news/2025/aeroengine_space_defense/1201450_13743.html ; https://www.iceye.com/newsroom/press-releases/iceye-and-ihi-start-cooperation-to-develop-sar-satellite-constellation-in-japan
This article was first published by EUROSATORY and is republished with permission of the author.
The original piece was published in three parts and is found here:
