Photo: Amazon

As Amazon’s Project Kuiper is ramping up the number of satellites in orbit, it’s also ramping up its go-to-market strategy with partners. Earlier this year, Kuiper Government Solutions signed an agreement with U.K. service provider Global RadioData Communications (GRC) that will see GRC deliver Low-Earth Orbit satellite communication solutions geared toward U.K. defense and other approved government customers.

Via Satellite interviewed Don Brown, head of Global Government for Amazon Project Kuiper and Steve Slater, managing director of GRC about how Kuiper will give more connectivity options for GRC’s customers, and how the two parties are working together.

Brown, who has worked across the industry for satellite operators like PanAmSat, Intelsat, and Telesat, is responsible for the development of Kuiper LEO satellite architectures and products for international government customers. And Slater oversees operations in mission‑critical communications and situational awareness systems for GRC. The two talk about the importance of secure networking and designing solutions to match operational needs.

As of Nov. 13, 2025, Kuiper Government Solutions will now be operating as Amazon Leo for Government.

VIA SATELLITE: Steve, what made GRC lean into Kuiper so early — and how does this partnership fit into your broader mission? Why partner with Kuiper, and why now?

Slater: GRC may be small by headcount, but we’re large in our ability to deliver complex integrated systems extremely quickly. Our customers choose us for our end-to-end integration capabilities and deep defense know-how. Our e2e portfolio being known as 6-SAT. We’ve always maintained an agnostic stance, knowing in most part the customer knows what they want, however we can tailor the need to match the right constellation and security constraints to the specific mission need, rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all approach.

Kuiper fits naturally into this philosophy. The partnership made sense now because the constellation’s performance characteristics and enhanced security align precisely with the mission requirements we’re seeing from U.K. and European defense customers — high throughput, low latency, and the ability to securely connect into defense networks.  We saw an opportunity to get ahead of the curve and ensure our customers would have immediate access to evolving LEO capabilities as they come into service.

VIA SATELLITE: And Don, how is Kuiper Government Solutions working to ensure secure, assured networking for government users? What will building this with GRC achieve for the end user?

Brown: Security and assurance are foundational to everything we do at Kuiper Government Solutions. In the first instance, Kuiper itself is built to be a resilient global satellite network. Over 3,000 space craft, plus hundreds of dedicated gateways will mean resilient communications at depth. From the beginning Kuiper was designed with secure communications as a core principle. The Kuiper integrated space and ground network will leverage Amazon’s experience in high reliability, highly secure, software defined networks. And KGS is building on top of that network architecture to include the security and assurance requirements which our government customers expect. We understand that building resilience into today’s communications networks is going to require considerable ability to rapidly scale and address complexity while keeping the customer experience at forefront.

KGS sought a collaboration with GRC because time and again GRC has shown that it can walk the walk of commercial satellite space networks meeting the needs of military customers. Specifically, KGS has been working with GRC to develop the resilience and security that government networks demand. Together, we’ve aligned on ingress and egress patterns, identity and policy touchpoints, and U.K.-based operational needs.

VIA SATELLITE: Steve, GRC works with partners across the satellite industry in communications and enabling technology. How important is it to your customers to have more options when it comes to LEO connectivity?

Slater: I’ve worked in this industry for a long time, and I’m convinced that LEO connectivity will play a critical role in the future of defense communications. But having options is absolutely essential to our customers.

At GRC, our partnerships are core to delivering the best solutions. We don’t start with the technology — we start with the operational need. Where do they want to operate, what throughput and data requirements do they have? How quickly? Under what conditions? And of course, the well-known size, weight and power considerations. Only then do we propose the solution to meet their requirements.

Kuiper gives us a performance ceiling we can tap when it’s justified — think small-medium-large headquarters, static, at the halt and on the move comms. Field hospitals, NGO, and welfare needs — while we can still offer lighter options for mobile teams in the field. The real benefit for our customers isn’t just a better spec sheet. It’s assured, consistent service that supports defense capabilities. Users experience this as faster workflows and better-informed decisions, which is what actually matters on the ground.

That said, we still see a demand for other networks and constellations from GEO service providers which form part of the 6-SAT portfolio, however in the past 12 months certainly, I have seen a distinct movement of LEO up the PACE (primary, alternate, contingency, emergency) ladder and would argue it is now sitting between the P and A as opposed to the emergency E. A testament of its maturity, security and reliability.

VIA SATELLITE: Can you share more details about how the partnership between Kuiper and GRC will work? How will Kuiper’s connectivity be integrated into GRC’s solutions, and what are the next steps to this collaboration?

Brown: The partnership will build on both companies’ respective strengths. GRC has fantastic customer understanding, and does an amazing job translating that into requirements, use cases and real-world applications. One of Amazon’s core strengths is our ability to use technology to solve complex customer problems. To work backward from the situation and help the government customer receive the best of Kuiper technology and GRC integration skills.

KGS and GRC have spent considerable time understanding the problem and identifying the best course of action to engineer solutions. The objective is to provide assured communications solutions quickly no matter how challenging the deployment scenario and the difficulty of the communications environment. GRC and Kuiper seek to provide joint communication solutions optimizing the value of data and reducing the time to actionable intelligence.

Slater: From the operational side, we’ve built infrastructure specifically to support U.K. defense needs. Our U.K.-based 24/7 Network Operations Center, local customer portals, and U.K. and European Union repair hub cut turnaround time from weeks to days. In addition, we have installed network connection points to facilitate the transfer of data from the Kuiper network to those of our customers.

We’re measuring success in operational terms: reduced RMA cycle time, quicker service restores, lower training burden for users, and higher confidence scores over the first six to 12 months of deployment. Those are the metrics that tell us whether we’re actually solving problems for our customers.

VIA SATELLITE: How do Kuiper and GRC build on this partnership? And for Don specifically, should we expect to see more partnerships like this one for Project Kuiper, and are partnerships a key part of how the constellation will serve government customers?

Brown: We’re just getting started. GRC and KGS are focused on scaling these capabilities across more mission sets and operational theaters. That includes advancing joint field trials, finding ways to improve interoperability with allied systems, and accelerating delivery timelines to meet urgent defense needs.

Partnerships are absolutely fundamental to our growth strategy. KGS values partners who can help us extend the reach of our network to allied nations, scale and accelerate the timeline from development to deployment.

Slater: We’ll continue co-developing edge-ready systems that meet evolving mission demands — whether that’s in contested environments, coalition operations, or humanitarian response scenarios. Once the service is fully operations, we will engage the customers to obtain feedback and recommendations, where possible the recommendations will be implemented by Kuiper which is one of their key attributes, customer first.

The future of defense communications is about flexibility, speed, and trusted execution. Kuiper provides the assured and secured communications infrastructure that enables all three, and we see that combination as the foundation for what’s coming next. This partnership positions us to deliver on that vision.