Rendering of a Pelican satellite. Photo: Planet Labs

Planet announced a new 240 million euro ($283 million) multi-year deal with the German government on Tuesday for satellite imagery and analytics services, which Planet’s leadership pointed to as a sign of the company’s momentum in the defense market. 

Through the German government agreement, Planet will provide dedicated capacity and direct downlink services on its fleet of Pelican satellites over specific European regions, as well as access to PlanetScope and SkySat data, and AI solutions for situational awareness and maritime domain awareness. 

This is one of four recent wins for Planet in the defense and intelligence sector, including an expansion of Planet’s Hybrid Space Architecture (HSA) contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU); a seven-figure expansion with the U.S. Navy to provide maritime domain awareness; and a NATO intelligence deal. 

“The changing global geopolitical landscape has accelerated the demand for sovereign access to unique solutions like ours,” Planet CEO Will Marshall said in a Tuesday briefing. “Governments worldwide are recognizing that timely, comprehensive Earth data are so critical to peace and security, and Planet stands ready to support their mission.” 

President and CFO Ashley Johnson said during the briefing the wins are a “direct result” of Planet’s focus on “delivering not just data, but AI enabled solutions that transform that data into immediate, actionable intelligence.” 

Marshall added that AI is helping to deliver insights from Planet’s daily scan of the Earth more quickly. 

“AI is enabling the ability to extract value from geospatial data at a scale and a speed we’ve never seen,” Marshall said. “[AI] is speeding time to value. It is scaling up what’s possible. I think in the long term it will also democratize access to these capabilities to far more players.” 

Johnson said that a portion of the German contract is for satellite capacity, and another portion for AI-enabled solutions. Johnson added that Planet is working with a number of partners for AI solutions, and some of the partners are European. 

These defense sector wins come as the Fiscal Year 2026 budget request could bring cuts to the National Reconnaissance Office’s Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) program, which Planet is a part of, along with BlackSky and Maxar Intelligence. Marshall was one of a number of Earth Observation CEOs that highlighted the risks of the potential cuts in a letter to Congressional leaders. 

Johnson noted that the NRO recently awarded Planet a contract option under the EOCL program, extending Planet’s EOCL performance level from June through October 2025.

Johnson described the current situation as a “fluid budget environment” in D.C. “We continue to be proud to serve the NRO and the U.S. government more broadly. And as the circumstances evolve with FY 26 budget, we’ll be sharing more information about how that program continues with Planet,” she said.