High North News

Swedish Armed Forces launched its first surveillance satellite

Astri Edvardsen
surveillance satellite situational awareness swedish armed forces the arctic

On Sunday, the Swedish Armed Forces' first military surveillance satellite was launched into space. The new capability will contribute to increased Swedish and allied situational awareness, not least in the north.

"Our expansion in the space domain has progressed at record speed. We now have a national capacity and our own systems in place in space. This gives us a better picture of our area of operations, including areas that are difficult to monitor, such as the Arctic, says Flotilla Admiral Anders Sundeman, Head of Space in the Swedish Armed Forces.

Sundeman also points out that this strengthens Sweden and NATO's ability to detect and combat threats at long distances.

The satellite will take high-resolution images from low Earth orbit and is the first of around ten military satellites that Sweden will launch into space in the coming years.

The launch was carried out by SpaceX at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA.

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