Polish Lawmakers Request Military to Establish Suborbital Spaceport
Members of Poland’s Sejm have submitted an interpellation to the Ministry of National Defence proposing the creation of a suborbital rocket spaceport. The Central Air Force Training Range in Ustka has been identified as the most viable location.
According to the Polish media Space24, a group of MPs formally asked the defence minister to consider establishing a permanent launch site for suborbital rockets in Poland. The request was submitted in late December 2025.
The lawmakers say Poland has a historic opportunity to join the group of countries with their own suborbital launch facilities. They argue that the rapid growth of the national space sector – both civilian and military – along with the development of domestic technologies, requires dedicated infrastructure that would enable access to space from Polish territory.
The MPs add that the Ustka air force training range is currently the only site in Poland that meets the necessary technical and operational requirements for such a project.
The project has received support from the scientific community, including the Space Sciences Commission of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Gdańsk, as well as from industry experts.
Suborbital Spaceport
Although suborbital flights do not allow satellites to be placed into orbit, such launches play an important scientific role. In particular, they are used to study different layers of the atmosphere, test advanced aerospace materials, and conduct microgravity research.
In addition, such flights could be used by the military to practice operating missile defense systems against “targets” whose characteristics closely match real ballistic threats.
As an example, the Polish lawmakers note in their document that test launches of the Polish Perun rocket developed by SpaceForest are already conducted from the Ustka training range. Perun is capable of reaching altitudes of up to approximately 150 km while carrying a research payload.
Starting in 2027, regular PERUN launches have already been contracted under the European Space Agency’s Boost! program, which assumes at least four – and potentially up to ten – missions per year. However, the current infrastructure in Ustka does not allow the system to be permanently based at the site.
In addition, the training range is hosting tests of a rocket equipped with a 300 mm–diameter engine as part of a project to develop a reusable suborbital launch system. The system is being developed by Poland’s Military Institute of Armament Technology (WITU).
According to the lawmakers, establishing a basic spaceport would not require significant financial investment. It would be sufficient to build a reinforced launch pad, an access road, power connections, a service hangar of about 300 square meters, and basic infrastructure. At present, the main obstacle remains administrative procedures, which, under standard conditions, could delay the project’s implementation by up to 3 years.
