Germany’s €1.7bn Pivot: Inside the Rheinmetall-ICEYE Deal and the Financialisation of NATO’s ‘Space-as-a-Service’

On 18 December 2025, Berlin fundamentally altered the European defence landscape with the signature of the €1.7 billion SPOCK 1 contract. By commissioning the Rheinmetall-ICEYE joint venture to deliver continuous, all-weather synthetic aperture radar (SAR) reconnaissance, Germany is not merely upgrading its hardware; it is pioneering a Space-as-a-Service financial model designed to lock down NATO’s eastern flank. This deal shifts procurement from traditional, high-risk capital expenditure to a guaranteed operational expense structure, effectively turning tactical intelligence into a bankable, long-term asset class for institutional investors. For the deployed Lithuania Brigade, it means “sovereign eyes” capable of piercing Russian camouflage; for the market, it validates the scalability of New Space financing. In this exclusive forensic report, Defence Finance Monitor dissects the contract’s hidden de-risking mechanisms, exposes the critical tension between European sovereignty and US supply chain reliance, and reveals the unpublicized planning figures for the follow-on SPOCK 2 system. Unlock the full analysis to understand how this deal resets the benchmark for military bankability in 2026.