Poland and Sweden to Join EDA MUSIS Programme

Poland and Sweden are to join the multinational space-based imaging system (MUSIS), a collaborative European Defence Agency (EDA) programme.

Currently, six countries (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France and Italy) are involved in the programme to enhance their future earth observation (EO) capabilities.

EDA chief executive Alexander Weis said the MUSIS project was brought to EDA to offer participation to other member states.

MUSIS allows the participating countries to share imagery from various European military satellites via common-user ground stations.

Some of the next-generation dual-use satellites for EO include the French Helios II, the Italian CosmoSkyMed and the German SAR Lupe.

Poland national armaments director Marcin Idzik said MUSIS represented the third generation of the cooperative model for military space-based observation programmes.

Sweden national armaments director Gunnar Hult said the country's defence material organisation would initiate negotiations regarding this innovative space-based imaging system for surveillance, reconnaissance and observation.