Poland’s National Weather Agency Orders Second Kongsberg Satellite Ground Station
Follow-On Contract Expands IMGW-PIB’s Remote Sensing Capabilities With MEOS-Based System in Krakow
A contract to supply Poland’s national meteorological institute with an advanced satellite ground station has been awarded to Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace, expanding the Norwegian technology company’s existing footprint with the agency after a successful prior installation.
“The implementation of an additional satellite data reception system will significantly strengthen our operational capabilities.”
Dr. Artur Rutkowski, IMGW-PIB
The Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, known by its Polish acronym IMGW-PIB, will receive a complete, turnkey system built on Kongsberg’s MEOS technology platform. The system will give IMGW-PIB full capability for reception, processing, and distribution of remote sensing data from a range of polar-orbiting and Earth observation satellites, including the European Union’s Copernicus Sentinel missions and key meteorological missions including Suomi NPP, the Joint Polar Satellite System, MetOp, and the EUMETSAT Polar System — Second Generation.
Installation is scheduled for Krakow in autumn 2026. The contract includes a one-year warranty covering both equipment and services.
The new system is functionally equivalent to a previous MEOS delivery completed in Poland in 2020, which has been continuously operated under a five-year service and support agreement. The follow-on award reflects continued confidence in Kongsberg’s technology and the company’s long-term partnership approach.
“IMGW-PIB is very satisfied with the cooperation with Kongsberg so far,” said Dr. Artur Rutkowski, Head of the Satellite Remote Sensing Department at IMGW-PIB. “The implementation of an additional satellite data reception system will significantly strengthen our operational capabilities and enable us to perform our national meteorological and hydrological services even more effectively. Maintaining a world-class level of expertise and infrastructure is a key priority for IMGW-PIB, therefore from the very beginning we have focused on selecting state-of-the-art and proven technological solutions available on the market.”
The MEOS-based system is designed as a flexible, multi-mission solution. It integrates high-performance antenna infrastructure, advanced signal processing, and scalable software covering data acquisition, archiving, analysis, and distribution. The contract also includes automated processing of Sentinel-1 data into European Space Agency-compatible products, as well as interactive tools for exploiting Sentinel data across other mission types.
Built-in monitoring and reporting capabilities will support both local and remote operations, enabling efficient system management and detailed data quality assessment. The architecture is designed to be modular and scalable, allowing IMGW-PIB to expand coverage as new satellite missions come online.
“We are proud to continue our collaboration with IMGW and to support their mission with advanced ground segment capabilities,” said Per-Erik Kristoffersen, Senior Vice President, Space and Surveillance at Kongsberg. “This contract reflects both the trust in our technology and our commitment to delivering reliable, high-performance systems that enable our customers to fully utilize critical satellite data.”
With the expanded infrastructure in place, IMGW-PIB will be better positioned to support improved weather forecasting, environmental monitoring, and climate analysis across Poland. The institute serves as the country’s primary source of meteorological and hydrological protection data, and the new system will broaden its access to timely, high-resolution satellite observations critical to those functions.
The contract adds to a growing record of Kongsberg ground system deployments across Europe and marks the company’s continued expansion in the civil and scientific satellite data segment alongside its defense-focused activities in Poland. In January 2026, Kongsberg signed a separate contract with Poland for the delivery of a counter-drone system valued at approximately 1.6 billion U.S. dollars.