WASHINGTON \u2014 Amazon\u2019s satellite internet company, Project Kuiper, is forging ties with the defense sector, signaling a strategic push beyond commercial broadband into government and military communications.<\/p>\n
Kuiper Government Solutions (KGS), a subsidiary of Project Kuiper, has partnered with defense contractor L3Harris Technologies to shape satellite payloads that meet the standards of military and public safety users.<\/p>\n
The Project Kuiper full constellation \u2014 planned to exceed 3,200 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites \u2014 is still far from completion. But despite it being in its early deployment phase \u2014 having launched its first 27 satellites just yesterday<\/a> \u2014 L3Harris\u2019 president of communication systems Sam Mehta said the company sees key advantages in partnering at this stage of development.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can actually get in on the ground floor and help influence some of the requirements since they\u2019re at the beginning of their launch cycle,\u201d Mehta said during a media briefing April 29. \u201cThis is the right time to be able to go and influence those requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n AWS cloud a key advantage<\/strong><\/p>\n The collaboration is part of Amazon\u2019s wider strategy to compete with SpaceX\u2019s Starlink and the military product, Starshield, which continues to capture market share. Amazon brings what Mehta called a differentiator: Amazon Web Services (AWS), the parent company\u2019s cloud infrastructure arm.<\/p>\n Mehta said the integration of a satellite network with Amazon\u2019s AWS cloud infrastructure would be significant, providing not just communications but also enabling advanced data processing and analysis capabilities.<\/p>\n This technology will enable soldiers in the field, for example, to have access to critical intelligence via handheld radios, \u201chaving the same security and resilience and encryption that they would if they were operating in a closed tactical network,\u201d Mehta said.<\/p>\n A key focus of the collaboration is developing encrypted communications with \u201cguaranteed landing rights\u201d\u2014addressing concerns from international governments about data sovereignty and security. According to Mehta, \u201cKuiper has been very good at making sure that data stays protected, and that there\u2019s sovereign control over that data.\u201d<\/p>\n