Australia, Europe, France, India, United States
HawkEye 360, Kleos, Unseenlabs vie for SIGINT dominance

Australia
Bankrupt space firm Kleos hopes to find buyer for some of its assets

The SIGINT radiofrequency satellite interception company Kleos Space has announced it will file for bankruptcy, but it is hoping to sell its technology first.

The Tech Telegraph
ISR in Bosnia, Russia's drone jammers, Israeli-Taiwanese-Emirati space alliance

From SIGINT to GEOINT and OSINT and a dose of cyber, each Thursday, we report on events both big and small that matter in the community of technical intelligence providers.

Brussels/Sarajevo ISR suppliers eye Bosnia tender

Moscow/Kyiv Russia beefs up anti-drone apparatus

Tel Aviv Israeli-Taiwanese-Emirati space data processing alliance

United States
Razor's Edge gains firmer foothold in US intelligence

The investment fund is continuing its shopping spree among companies seeking to break into the US intelligence sector. Its former protégé, BlackHorse Solutions, has just won a major contract on the DARPA programme to improve penetration testing.

France
Maritime surveillance firm Unseenlabs spreads its wings in Indo-Pacific

French maritime surveillance specialist Unseenlabs, which is already expanding in North America and the Middle East, is now growing in the Indo-Pacific region via a partnership with Starboard Maritime Intelligence and MDA.

United Kingdom, United States
RF interception specialist Kleos follows Satellogic into the Americas

The Luxembourg-based British operator of radio frequency reconnaissance satellites, which until now had bypassed analytics platforms, has formed a partnership with the US-Argentine earth observation specialist Satellogic to combine their data into one such platform.

Spotlight | France
Blast off for Finance Ministry's space industry strategy relaunch

Aware that its space industry is lagging behind and that its position as leader in the sector has been weakened, France is mandating seven emerging companies to redefine its strategy. This comes at a time where mistrust surrounds the sector's traditional key players.

United States
HawkEye scores first US space-based SIGINT contracts

The US radio frequency signals specialist has been selected to provide its data to the US geospatial intelligence agency NGA and work with Space Force as competition in the sector heats up.

United States
Spire makes move into space SIGINT

After a stock market listing and the acquisition of its AIS monitoring rival, Spire is looking to enter the race to geolocate ships through radio frequency SIGINT via satellite.

United Kingdom
Ex-GCHQ technology chief Kempson assists Horizon Technologies' rise in interceptions

Still hoping to get its interception (SIGINT) constellation into orbit in time for future major British space contracts, Britain's Horizon Technologies recently appointed former GCHQ chief Neil Kempson to advise it.

United States
Black River Systems to develop SIGINT signals-sorting algorithms for Pentagon

The US electronic warfare company has been contracted by the US Air Force Research Laboratory to find solutions to automate SIGINT triage.

Spotlight | United States
Unseenlabs and Horizon eye US SIGINT market

British aerospace OEM Horizon has secured a financing round to develop its airborne signals intelligence (SIGINT) systems that it hopes will propel it onto the US market. Meanwhile, its French radio frequency signals competitor, Unseenlabs, has partnered with US firm Orbcomm.

France
How Paris intends to eavesdrop on satellite internet constellation feeds

Satellite internet constellations are flourishing and French legislators want the government's services to be capable of intercepting network traffic on the quiet.

Spotlight | Japan
Tokyo seeks balance on GEOINT strategy between state alliances and New Space

Japan's plans to develop its geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) capabilities, by striking a balance between state-run space defence programmes and home-grown commercial solutions, come as it increases efforts to deepen security alliances to better respond to China.

Spotlight | Europe
Frontex forges ahead with GEOINT and AI initiatives

The European border protection agency is expanding its pool of geospatial intelligence suppliers as well as acquiring the AI tools it needs to process the additional data.

Europe
After sensors, Frontex turns to big data

Having increased its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) capacity, the European border protection agency is now looking to build its big data platform.

Israel
Prelysis, symbol of advertisers love for surveillance tech

SmartMedia Marketing, an online game content publisher, invested in the Israeli integration company Prelysis, further blurring the line between marketing and intelligence.

France
French MPs seek way round restrictive EU Court of Justice interception rulings

Ideas were thrashed out in a parliamentary EU affairs committee closed hearing last week with national security adviser Laurent Nunez and anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-François Ricard.

United States
Awaiting listing after merger, BlackSky's fate relies on major contracts with NRO and NGA

GEOINT specialist BlackSky's merger with Osprey to go public, a decision strongly backed by Peter Thiel, shows the operators are willing to change business model in order to win major contracts with US intelligence services.

Spotlight | Europe
France leads efforts to circumvent ECJ's privacy ruling on indiscriminate communications data storage

France and like-minded European governments are working to ensure that a new European ePrivacy directive helps them bypass last year's ECJ ruling against indiscriminate data collection and storage.

Australia, China
Canberra beefs up space surveillance capacities

As space increasingly becomes an area of full-fledged confrontation, Australia is seeking to boost its space monitoring capacities, with the help of Washington and, perhaps soon, Paris too.

United States
NGA eyes new pool of GEOINT vendors as it ramps up commercial acquisitions

The agency wants to support US geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) start-ups but is also increasingly considering European firms.

China
Head Aerospace seeks to become China's top GEOINT supplier abroad

Head Aerospace, which supplies data from Chinese observation satellites, has designs on the international space market.

United States
SIGINT payload: Congress wants end to NSA-US Army squabbling

In its report on the Intelligence Authorization Act 2021, published [...]

China
Rocket maker OneSpace leans on United Front as it eyes international market

OneSpace, a private rocket company, is likely preparing for the export market with support from the United Front, which leads influence campaigns overseas.

South Korea
Seoul gets new defence startup incubator

Cho Dongyoun, a former military officer with Paris connections, will head Seokyeong University's new Future Defense Technology and Entrepreneurship Center.

United States
Contractors battle over US Navy electronic warfare programme

A dispute over the US Navy's classified electronic warfare training plane contract has usually discreet suppliers headed for a courtroom clash.

United Kingdom
London sets sights on space again

Covid-19 notwithstanding, the British parliament's defence commitee this month began phase one of its "Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy [...]

United States
USSOCOM moves forward with GEOINT strategy without NGA

US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) is currently hiring around 300 [...]

China
CASIC's ExPace leads Xi's plan for military-civil fusion in space

As the space race with Washington heats up, the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation is keen on becoming a New Space powerhouse while keeping in line with Beijing's vision.

United States
Obama's GEOINT chiefs pursue private roles while waiting in the wings

Key geospatial intelligence chiefs who rose to prominence during the Obama administration, when James Clapper was Director of National Intelligence, are now working in the private sector while they await the outcome of next year's presidential elections.

United States
Chandah fosters ambitions to become space intelligence leader

The startup Chandah is planning to launch its own satellite monitoring constellation in response to the growing needs of new space and the militarisation of space.

United States
Ex-NGA chief Robert Cardillo joins GEOINT startup

Robert Cardillo, the former director of the National Geospatial-intelligence Agency [...]

United States
N-ask sends USSOCOM SIGINT sensors into space

Frequently called upon to equip US intelligence drones, N-ask is to integrate its modules in micro-satellites that have been developed for the US Special Forces.

China
Beijing uses European technology to advance New Space know-how

With Western firms facing a contracting New Space market, China is beefing up its GEOINT capacity.

United States
Razor's Edge brings niche startups closer to the intelligence community

Chaired by Joseph Cofer Black, the former head of the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, the venture capital firm Razor's Edge Ventures has invested in a number of SIGINT and cyber defence startups.