SES extends multi-orbit connectivity for Peruvian Navy

SES has extended its collaboration with the Peruvian Navy to provide managed multi-orbit satellite connectivity across coastal bases, aircraft, and vessels, combining geostationary and low Earth orbit services under a single communications arrangement. The service will also be available aboard the sailing training ship B.A.P. “UNIÓN” during its VIEX-2026 foreign training voyage.

The agreement is broader than a single-ship broadband installation. SES says the Navy will gain enhanced control over its communications infrastructure, including secure encryption and operational-management capabilities, while the multi-orbit architecture is intended to support users operating across Peru’s maritime domain. The company has not disclosed bandwidth allocations, terminal types, or the technical design of the encryption system.

Combining GEO and LEO connectivity is intended to exploit different orbital characteristics. Geostationary spacecraft provide wide-area coverage from a fixed position relative to the user, while low Earth orbit constellations can offer lower-latency paths through multiple moving satellites. In practice, the value of a multi-orbit service depends on how terminals, gateways, and network management handle the transition between those paths rather than on the presence of two orbital layers alone.

That matters for a naval customer because operating environments vary widely. A shore base can accommodate larger antennas, stable power, and fixed network connections, while aircraft and vessels impose tighter limits on space, weight, motion, power, and line-of-sight. A managed service has to account for those differences without forcing crews to become satellite-network engineers simply to maintain routine communications.

SES is framing the programme around sovereignty as well as performance. The Peruvian Navy will not own the commercial satellites, but the agreement is intended to give it greater control over encryption and operational management. That is a narrower and more useful definition of sovereignty than ownership: the customer can control defined communications functions while continuing to rely on SES for the underlying space and ground infrastructure.

Ricardo La Guardia, Vice President Americas – Fixed Data at SES, said the multi-orbit architecture is intended to provide “resilient communications that strengthen operational effectiveness”. The phrase is reasonable as a programme objective, but resilience will depend on system design, coverage, terminal integration, and the ability to maintain service when individual links or nodes are unavailable.

B.A.P. “UNIÓN” provides the most visible early use case. The four-masted vessel is used for naval training and international engagement and can spend extended periods away from Peruvian shore infrastructure. Reliable communications support routine administration, training, and coordination during those deployments, while the wider contract also covers other ships, aircraft, and coastal facilities.

The broader integration challenge is therefore more important than the ship itself. Military users already operate local networks, identity controls, encryption policy, and command systems that cannot simply be replaced by a commercial satellite terminal. The satellite provider has to present connectivity in a form that can be incorporated into those existing environments while preserving access control and operational oversight.

Multi-orbit services also add complexity to support. Terminals and network-management software have to account for different coverage patterns, latency, and capacity, while maintenance teams need a consistent way to diagnose faults that may originate in onboard equipment, a terrestrial gateway, or the space segment. The more transparent that complexity is to the end user, the more useful the managed-service model becomes.

SES has expanded its global scale following the completion of its Intelsat acquisition, giving the combined business a larger portfolio of satellite and terrestrial assets. That scale can increase routing options and coverage, although it does not by itself guarantee military-grade resilience. Defence customers will still judge the service on availability, security, latency, support, and the ability to maintain connectivity during operationally demanding periods.

The Peruvian award also illustrates the growing overlap between commercial satellite operators and national defence communications. Armed forces do not need to own every layer of infrastructure they use, but reliance on commercial services creates questions around assured access, contract terms, cyber protection, and support during crises. Managed multi-orbit systems have to address those issues as part of service design, not as an afterthought.

VIEX-2026 will provide a public demonstration of the service aboard B.A.P. “UNIÓN”, but the harder engineering test is the wider network. Success will depend on whether the same managed architecture can support shore, air, and maritime users securely and predictably without becoming a collection of separate connectivity projects. If SES can deliver that consistency, the value of the agreement will lie less in orbital terminology than in giving the Peruvian Navy a communications layer it can operate as a coherent service.