- Kongsberg add three more N3X microsatellites to Norway’s passive maritime surveillance constellation
- Each system uses AIS receivers and RF sensors to track ships and detect or intercept enemy signals
- Expanding N3X will increase Norway’s coverage and responsiveness to shadow fleet vessels and Russian hybrid warfare at sea
Kongsberg will expand Norway’s maritime surveillance picture – the N3X constellation – with three more passive monitoring microsatellites in early 2027, bringing the total to six spacecraft.
The company launched the first three satellites – known as ARVAKER I, II and III, translated as vigilant or “early wake” – between March and June last year.
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These microsatellites are derived from Nanoavionics’ commercial platform, the MP42 bus, which ostensibly shares the same body frame and solar panel array. However, Norway’s dual-use N3X units are customised internally with military and maritime tracking payloads developed in collaboration with Norway’s Defence Research Establishment.
This includes Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers and Radio Frequency (RF) sensors. The payloads track ships and detect or intercept enemy signals, but they do so passively, meaning the subsystems do not actively emit signals.
A Kongsberg spokesperson told Naval Technology that the new satellites are similar to the first three units but with “some improvements implemented,” though the company declined to provide details of the upgrade.
N3X has supported Norwegian maritime agencies and unspecified international partners since entry into service.
“The operational results achieved with the first three satellites have confirmed the value of space-based maritime surveillance as an important component of our situational awareness,” remarked Colonel John-Arild Bodding, Commander of Norwegian Armed Forces Space Operations Center.
It is thought the N3X expansion will increase the Navy’s coverage and responsiveness at sea.
Norwegian waters
The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS) first pursued the space-based maritime surveillance programme when the service awarded Kongsberg the contract in April 2024.
Last year, the Ministry of Defence reinforced its commitment to maritime surveillance satellites in its Long-term Defence Plan in which the government considered the sheer breadth of Oslo’s High North coverage.
In 2026, Baltic Sea countries, France, India and others have inspected an detained more “shadow-fleet” vessels than in previous years. These ships routinely turn their AIS transponders off. In response, Russian military vessels are beginning to escort these unlawful commercial cargo ships, mostly oil tankers, furthering Russia’s economy and war machine.
Norway, like its allies, will need to interdict these ships as a crucial partner that shares a critical corridor for Russia’s Arctic liquefied natural gas fleet relying on ice-free Norwegian waters such as Finnmark.
The passive surveillance of N3X satellites also helps to confront underwater hybrid sabotage, capturing data from ships exhibiting erratic or unconventional loitering behaviour over pipelines or communication nodes.
European integration
The Norwegian government will also compound its space defence efforts with the rets of Europe.
In mid-July, the state-owned agency, Space Norway, signed a memorandum of understanding with German armaments builder Rheinmetall to expand space-based capabilities with a focus of maritime domain awareness.
In particular, the agency will complement Germany’s X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, which provides high-resolution surveillance of individual targets, with a C-band SAR satellite, which offers the wider coverage needed for the North Atlantic and Arctic regions.
“Strategic autonomy in the maritime and space domains is no longer merely a long term objective but is increasingly becoming an immediate prerequisite for credible security preparedness and resilient alliance defence,” read the Space Norway release.
