ICEYE sells you radar. KSAT sells you detections. We sell you the picture, downlinked on your own soil.
Both named vendors publish real maritime capability, and neither hides it. The question a coastal state has to answer is where the raw data lands, who fuses it, and whose analysts see a suspicious track first.
This is a fielded maritime picture-compilation capability, not a study. It runs on satellites tasked in service, ground reception and processing installed in country, and operator training delivered alongside the system, in an operating environment where weather, spoofing and transponder-dark shipping are daily conditions rather than test cases.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratOcean surveillance satellites | ICEYESAR constellation and national SAR programmes1234Finland | KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services)Vessel Detection Services56Norway |
|---|---|---|---|
| What the buyer actually acquires35 | A sovereign delivery contract: satellites tasked on your priorities, downlink to antennas inside your borders, processing inside your jurisdiction | Satellites and ground segment sold into national programmes. Poland's MikroSAR agreement covers an initial three SAR satellites, an option on three more plus additional ground segment within 12 months, and a mobile ISR platform, at about EUR 200 million | A subscription analysis service with a 24/7 order desk, delivery and support |
| Sensor layers behind the picture15 | AIS tracks, SAR detections, RF geolocations and optical imagery, fused with weather, port calls and intelligence | X-band SAR from ICEYE's own constellation | Radar and optical satellites; KSAT states it can draw on all operationally capable satellites |
| Vessels running dark45 | AIS gaps cross-matched against radar and RF layers to surface ships hiding their transponders | SAR imaging through cloud, fog and darkness for vessel detection and classification, including daily or sub-daily port monitoring | Service designed to find vessels that avoid AIS, operate in darkness and use cloud or haze as cover |
| Published imaging resolution125ICEYE publishes the most detailed imaging specification of the three. A buyer should hold us to a measured figure rather than a claimed one. | Not published | Dwell 25 cm, 50 cm and 1 m over 5 x 5 km; Spot up to 50 cm ground with scenes to 15 x 15 km; Strip 3 m ground over 30 x 50 km; Scan 15 x 15 m ground over 100 x 100 km | Not published; the service is built on third-party radar and optical satellites |
| Wide-area sweep in one pass12 | Not published | Scan acquires 10,000 km2 in a single SAR image at 100 x 100 km; ICEYE states monitoring of areas up to 120,000 km2 | Not published |
| Time from collection to a usable alert35 | Not published | Near real-time tasking, data download and analysis through the mobile ISR platform supplied under the Polish agreement | Analytical results distributed within minutes of downlink on KSAT's own antenna network, 24/7 |
| Where the raw data is received35This is the row that decides a sovereignty case. Everything else is negotiable. | Antennas inside your borders. No raw data leaves the country | Ground segment capability is a purchasable option; the Polish agreement lists additional ground segment as an option alongside the satellites | KSAT's own global antenna network, from Svalbard to Antarctica |
| Agencies served from one platform5 | Navy, coast guard, fisheries enforcement, customs and search and rescue, with role-based access | Not published | Customers view results in the cView online system or receive analyses in a requested output format |
| Build-out timetable35 | Two-layer AIS and radar picture in 6 to 9 months; full multi-source platform in 12 to 18; classified national deployment in 18 to 24 | Implementation of the Polish agreement commenced immediately on signature, with the option on three further satellites exercisable within 12 months | Not published. The service is subscribed to rather than built |
| Origin and political exposure356 | Independent and non-aligned | Finland; EU export chain. ICEYE describes itself as a European provider of sovereign reconnaissance systems | Norway; Kongsberg Satellite Services, with the reception network on Norwegian and allied territory |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
Three different products wearing the same label
KSAT sells detections. You describe what you want to find, KSAT downlinks on its own antennas, its analysts and models work the data, and you receive the result. ICEYE sells radar satellites and, in the Polish case, the ground segment to go with them. We sell the fused national picture: AIS, SAR, RF and optical merged and alerted inside your jurisdiction. A ministry comparing three quotes should first check it is comparing the same deliverable, because the price difference between a subscription and a national programme mostly reflects what you end up owning.
Resolution is published. Custody is not.
ICEYE publishes hard imaging figures down to 25 cm and we do not, which is a real point in their favour during technical scoring. What no datasheet resolves is custody. A KSAT subscription puts your reception on Norwegian and allied ground and your analysis in a supplier's operations room. That is efficient, and for many customers entirely acceptable. It is not acceptable if the tracks in question involve a neighbour with better diplomatic access to that supplier's capital than you have.
Sustainment is a political question in disguise
Every one of these systems needs software releases, tasking priority during a crisis and spare hardware years after signature. With an EU-domiciled supplier each of those passes back through a member-state export process. Our origin is non-aligned, the staged build-out lands the first working picture in 6 to 9 months, and the tasking priority during a crisis is set by your operations centre because it is your operations centre.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to ICEYE for a government that wants to own its maritime picture rather than buy imagery?
Our ocean surveillance offering is the closer match if ownership is the requirement, because the contract is written around tasking on your priorities, downlink to antennas inside your borders and processing in your jurisdiction, with no raw data leaving the country. ICEYE is the stronger answer if you want the sharpest published SAR imagery available today: their Dwell products reach 25 cm and their Polish programme shows they will sell satellites and ground segment outright. The trade is imagery specification against custody and export exposure.
How does a sovereign maritime surveillance programme compare with a KSAT Vessel Detection subscription on cost of ownership?
A subscription has almost no capital cost and KSAT distributes results within minutes of downlink on its own network, 24/7. That is hard to beat on year-one cost. The recurring bill never stops, the reception stays on KSAT's antennas, and nothing accretes to your own capability. Our model front-loads cost into ground infrastructure, fusion software and trained operators, then leaves you with them. If the requirement is five years of enforcement evidence, compare the subscription total across those five years with what a national build costs, and count the sovereignty as a separate line.
Which system is better for detecting vessels that switch off AIS?
All three address it. KSAT states its service is designed to find vessels avoiding AIS and hiding in darkness or cloud. ICEYE's SAR sees through cloud, fog and darkness by physics. Our approach is to cross-match AIS dropouts against radar and RF geolocation, so the dark vessel is surfaced as an inconsistency rather than as a single sensor return. The multi-source method reduces false positives from ships that simply lost signal, which matters when the output has to survive a prosecution.
How quickly can a country get a working maritime picture?
Our staged build-out delivers a two-layer AIS and radar picture in 6 to 9 months, the full multi-source platform in 12 to 18 months, and a classified national deployment in 18 to 24. A service subscription starts faster. A satellite procurement takes longer: the Polish MikroSAR agreement began implementation immediately, but the option on further satellites and ground segment runs 12 months from signature.
Does buying from a non-aligned supplier mean weaker technology?
It means different published evidence. ICEYE and KSAT publish more numbers than we do, and evaluation teams should score that honestly and demand measured performance from us during trials. What non-aligned origin buys is the absence of a third government in your sustainment chain, and the absence of a licence review every time you extend coverage over waters that a foreign ministry has an opinion about.
Sources
- 1. ICEYE, ICEYE Tasking Imaging Modes (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 2. ICEYE, Imaging modes: See more with modesRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 3. ICEYE, ICEYE to provide SAR satellites for the Armed Forces of Poland (press release, 14 May 2025)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 4. ICEYE, Use cases: Port monitoringRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 5. Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), Vessel Detection ServicesRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 6. Kongsberg Satellite Services (KSAT), KSATlite: Smart, Secure and Scalable Ground OperationsRetrieved: 2026-07-31