Launching ceremony for North Korea’s Kang Kon destroyer at No. 28 Shipyard Rajin, captured June 12, 2025, by BlackSky’s first Gen-3 satellite.

BlackSky Technology announced a deal with an unnamed international customer for a dedicated Gen-3 satellite, along with BlackSky’s imagery and analytics services. The deal announced Tuesday will give BlackSky’s international customer a sovereign, space-based intelligence solution.

The customer will have immediate access to BlackSky’s imagery and analytics, along with dynamic monitoring over their national and regional areas of interest. In addition, the customer purchased one Gen-3 BlackSky satellite, which will work in parallel to BlackSky’s constellation once it is operational. 

“With this agreement, our customer will have national on-orbit, best-in-class 35-centimeter imaging and AI-enabled analytics capabilities within months, not years,” commented Brian O’Toole, BlackSky CEO. “BlackSky is accelerating how our global customer base adopts advanced, space-based intelligence by quickly moving Gen-3 units from our agile production line through our rapid deployment process, effectively enabling long-term mission capabilities in very little time.”

BlackSky began launching its Gen-3 satellites last year, with one satellite in November delivering images from the satellite less than 24 hours after launch. With the Gen-3 rollout, the company has reported that customers in the Americas, Asia, and Europe, who came onboard for pilot programs have signed expansion contracts for Gen-3 access.