Mitsubishi Electric Invests $10 Million in Satellite Radar Startup Array Labs

Mitsubishi Electric has invested $10 million in Array Labs, a U.S.based company that builds satellites and satellite-mounted radar systems, with plans to collaborate on commercializing satellite-based information services, primarily for security applications.

The investment reflects a broader shift in aerospace and defense toward using data from low-Earth-orbit satellite constellations alongside traditional ground- and aircraft-based radar surveillance. Most current satellite surveillance relies on optical sensors and synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a radar imaging technique that produces high-resolution images of terrain. A newer approach called airborne moving target indication (AMTI) is gaining attention because it can detect and continuously track moving airborne objects, like aircraft or drones, directly from orbiting satellites. Unlike ground-based radar, AM

TI isn't limited by where radar installations are physically located, by terrain blocking line of sight, or by a fixed detection range, which makes it useful both for national security purposes and for civilian air traffic management.

Array Labs, founded in 2019, has developed a modular radar design and a multistatic radar approach, meaning multiple satellites work together to jointly detect and track targets rather than relying on a single radar source. That work has already led to research co...