NATO allies in Europe want more commercial satellite imagery to spot threats earlier, CEO says

NATO is showing growing interest in commercial satellite imagery.

2026 Planet Labs PBC/via REUTERS NATO countries in Europe are increasingly interested in access to commercial satellite imagery.

An industry executive said that countries see how Ukraine has successfully used this technology.

They are also looking to build up their own capabilities as the US signals a shift away from Europe.

Demand for commercial satellite imagery is rising across NATO as the alliance seeks greater access to expand its early-warning capabilities, a top industry executive told Business Insider.

US satellite imaging company Planet Labs had roughly $4 billion in deals for satellite services in the pipeline as of its early September earnings call, CEO Will Marshall said in an interview last week.

Around $1 billion of those are expected to come together in the coming quarters.

Surging global interest in satellite imagery is at least partly driven by observations from ongoing conflicts, Marshall said.

Commercial satellite imagery , for instance, has been a major advantage for Ukraine on the battlefield.

NATO countries in Europe are also looking to strengthen their own intelligence-gathering capabilities as the US signals to European allies that they need to be more responsible for their own collective security .

"Europe needs its own eyes, and it needs them fast," Marshall said.

An information advantage Space has become an essential domain for military operations, as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has demonstrated, with access to commercial satellite imagery providing critical intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.

The US and its allies use satellites to monitor adversarial behavior.

US Space Force photo From Planet's fleet of Earth-imaging satellites in orbit, customers receive what Marshall described as "strategic early warning" — they can track developments such as the expansion of military sites or defense industry facilities and map patterns of life to understand potentially abnormal behavior.