SES Space & Defense Headquarters

SES Space & Defense will provide satellite-powered network connectivity to Amazon Web Services‘ (AWS) Modular Data Center serving the U.S. Department of Defense under a new agreement announced Thursday by the SES-owned subsidiary.

AWS will use SES satellite connectivity to provide defense customers with access to low-latency, cloud-based applications and services securely in Denied, Disrupted, Intermittent, and Limited (DDIL) environments through a dedicated network connection to AWS Regions. SES will also provide service from its second-generation medium earth orbit (MEO) constellation, O3b mPOWER, designed with an open architecture approach in space, ground, and user terminal allowing users to bring their own modems/waveform.

AWS rolled out its Modular Data Center in February 2023 for the Pentagon under the Joint Warfighting Cloud Capability (JWCC) contract.

“Customers operating in DDIL environments can utilize SES’s satellite connectivity to support temporary AWS Modular Data Center deployments or as an interim connectivity solution for AWS Modular Data Center deployments, enabling customers to deploy workloads immediately upon the delivery of AWS Modular Data Center. Alternatively, if AWS Modular Data Center is utilizing terrestrial connectivity, customers can use SES’s satellite connectivity to provide network redundancy for mission-critical workloads,” SES Space & Defense said in a company statement.