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NATO Expands Satellite Surveillance to Monitor Russian Troop Movements Near Ukraine
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NATO is expanding its satellite surveillance capabilities to monitor broader geographic areas, including military activity in Ukraine and along Russia’s borders with Eastern European countries.
The initiative was confirmed by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Philippe Lavigne, in an interview with Bloomberg on June 12.
According to General Lavigne, the upgraded system will allow the Alliance to observe “huge areas” in real time, tracking troop movements, maneuvers, and battlefield activity.
“Today we’re not certain the Russians will stop at Ukraine,” said Vandier. “We’ll be able to tell them: we’re watching,” he added.
The surveillance expansion will be carried out in cooperation with US-based satellite imagery provider Planet Labs. The project, titled Smart Indication and Warning Broad Area Detection, is designed to enable frequent monitoring of large territories throughout the year. It integrates artificial intelligence to detect changes and generate automatic alerts.
A NATO official added that the system may also be used to monitor strategic regions such as the Arctic, where Russian and Chinese activity is increasing.
Earlier, NATO was calling on its European member states to substantially strengthen their ground-based air defense capabilities in response to potential future threats from Russia.
According to Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter, the Alliance has set an informal objective to increase these capacities fivefold across Europe. While targets will be adapted to each member state's needs, no official timelines have been established.
