National Reconnaissance Office awards radar contracts to Capella Space, ICEYE US, Umbra Lab

The U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has granted Radar Commercial Augmentation contracts to three commercial synthetic‑aperture‑radar (SAR) providers—Capella Space, ICEYE US and Umbra Lab. The awards, part of the NRO’s Commercial Radar Capabilities program launched in 2022, aim to expand the use of commercial SAR data across the intelligence community, the Department of Defense and humanitarian missions.

Under the contracts the companies will deliver day‑and‑night, all‑weather SAR imaging to support global surveillance, disaster response and other national‑security tasks. The effort builds on earlier NRO assessments of commercial radar constellations and will be managed by the agency’s Commercial Systems Program Office. ICEYE US CEO Ann Stevens highlighted the contracts as a sign of growing trust in commercial remote‑sensing for U.S. government needs.