WASHINGTON — U.S. satellite imagery provider Maxar Intelligence announced a $14.4 million contract with the Netherlands Ministry of Defense, highlighting growing European demand for commercial space intelligence amid heightened global security concerns.
The four-year agreement announced Jan. 9 provides Dutch military users with access to Maxar’s satellite tasking capabilities, imagery archive and data analytics through its Geospatial Platform Pro service.
The deal comes as NATO allies increasingly seek to develop independent geospatial intelligence capabilities, often through partnerships with commercial providers.
“As many NATO countries look to build up their own sovereign geospatial intelligence capabilities, they’re turning more and more to commercial partners,” said Anders Linder, Maxar’s general manager for international government.
The contract will support hundreds of users at the Dutch Defense Geographic Agency conducting mapping, intelligence and operational support missions.
WorldView Legions 5 & 6 ready for launch
Separately, Maxar said it has delivered its final pair of WorldView Legion satellites to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for a planned February launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
These satellites will complete Maxar’s first block of next-generation imaging spacecraft, with four satellites in mid-inclination orbit and six in sun-synchronous orbit. Maxar said this constellation will enable up to 15 daily revisits of specific locations and triple the company’s highest-resolution collection capacity.
The WorldView Legion system provides 30-centimeter resolution imagery, allowing customers to distinguish objects roughly the size of a car hood from space.
