Spire launches new space-based radio frequency intelligence capabilities for defense and security

Spire Global has expanded its Space Reconnaissance portfolio with new radio frequency (RF) geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) capabilities. Designed to support both US and international missions, the enhanced offering delivers persistent monitoring, real-time geolocation, and multi-layered situational awareness.

With this expansion, Spire aims to enable government agencies, the security and defense sectors, and integrators worldwide to access advanced RF intelligence tools tailored to a wide range of mission needs such as emergency beacon detection, GNSS interference tracking and more.

Once collected, signal data is processed through Spire’s detection and geolocation engine and delivered via secure, cloud-based infrastructure, ensuring fast and reliable access to RF insights. For customers requiring full control over mission infrastructure and data, the solution also supports sovereign-ready deployments. Spire’s satellites currently collect signals across the VHF, UHF, and L bands.

As part of Spire’s expanded Space Reconnaissance portfolio, customers can now:

• Detect unauthorized or unregistered radio signals across land, sea, and air

• Collect and process unencrypted, publicly broadcast voice transmissions from space using AI to transcribe, translate, and summarize even short or noisy signals in near real time

• Trigger third-party satellite imagery to visually validate signal activity on the ground

• Identify and track emitters over time for persistent signal monitoring

“Today’s security environment demands faster, smarter insights and that starts with knowing what’s happening on the ground in near real time,” said Iain Goodridge, senior director of radio frequency geolocation products at Spire. “With our enhanced RF detection and geolocation capabilities, we’re equipping partners and agencies globally with the intelligence they need to make confident, informed decisions — even in the most complex and hard-to-reach environments."

Spire continues to invest in expanding its RF capabilities, including the development of next-generation satellite clusters with greater signal collection, onboard processing, and downlink performance. In June 2024, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory awarded Spire a $14 million contract to develop and deploy a cluster of satellites designed to detect and track moving objects on Earth with the goal of enhancing situational awareness for U.S. defense operations. Additional detection clusters are scheduled to launch no earlier than late 2025 through 2026 to increase revisit rates and extend coverage across priority regions.

“Radio Frequency Geolocation (RFGL) has become a valuable part of our commercial monitoring capabilities. Spire’s RFGL product gives us consistent, global coverage day, night, and through bad weather, which allows us to track RF emissions from things like radar systems, broadcast towers, and communication infrastructure,” said Luke Fischer, CEO and co-founder of SkyFi. “This helps us understand shifts in activity, changes in asset usage, or identify potential disruptions across markets we care about. Spire has been a solid partner: responsive, fast, and willing to adapt their tools to real-world use.”