Japan to provide assistance to Ukrainian intelligence - media
Ukraine wants to become independent from the United States of America in case Washington cuts off intelligence assistance again.
According to Censor.NET, citing Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, Intelligence Online reports.
The Institute for Space Pioneers (iQPS) at Kyushu University (a Japanese satellite manufacturer and operator) will provide the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine with geospatial imagery using synthetic aperture radar (SAR). The agreement was signed last week.
It is noted that negotiations between the authorities of Ukraine and Japan on this issue began in late February and intensified when the United States suspended its intelligence assistant in Ukraine on March 6. Later, Washington resumed its support, but the talks continued.
The Japanese company that will assist the GUR has five SAR surveillance satellites in orbit, with another planned to be launched by the end of 2026. However, the two sides have given themselves two to three months to install programming and reception tools on the GUR platform.
In addition, Japan will provide Kyiv with $1 billion. The money should be used to compensate for the loss of financial support from the United States.
Currently, Ukrainian intelligence is working to become independent of American imagery in case Washington cuts off aid again. According to journalists, the future of Ukraine's radar capabilities is getting brighter thanks to iQPS. Earlier, the Finnish company Iceye and Germany (SAR-Lupe and SARah) promised to provide radar images to Ukraine. They will also be provided by Italy (Cosmo-SkyMed and Cosmo-SkyMed 2).
"Combined, these capabilities can potentially transmit more radar images than what the US National Reconnaissance Office has previously provided through its own assets and through acquisitions from commercial operators Capella Space and Umbra," Intelligence Online notes.
However, Ukraine does not have all the necessary optics. Despite having access to the European Airbus Group's Pléiades Neo satellites and extended rights to images from French satellites, Ukraine is far short of what the United States has provided, either directly or through access to commercial images from Maxar and BlackSky.
Now, according to journalists, there is not a single European operator that can provide optical satellite imagery at the level of American companies. Even after the official resumption of data transmission in early March, Washington continues to restrict data related to Russian territory.
Help from Japan
As a reminder, in mid-February, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a draft agreement between the governments of Ukraine and Japan to attract a grant of 8.8 billion Japanese yen, or about $58 million.
Earlier it became known that Ukraine and Japan had launched a joint business platform for infrastructure technologies for recovery and reconstruction (JUPITeR).
It was also reported that the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will explore the possibility of financing energy and infrastructure programs in Ukraine, which were previously supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) .
Prior to that, the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko reported that Japanese companies were actively entering the Ukrainian market, and government organizations were opening their representative offices, with more than 40 Japanese companies operating in Ukraine.
