Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) has been awarded a $44 million phase 2 contract to advance the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Otter very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) mission to demo the world’s first, air-breathing spacecraft and advance next-generation orbital capabilities.
Artistic rendition of an under-development Otter VLEO satellite that uses air-breathing electric propulsion technology being developed in the Otter program. Image courtesy of DARPA
The phase 2 contract provides funding to complete manufacturing and deliver the spacecraft to launch for the mission, which leverages the design of Redwire’s SabreSat platform.
Redwire’s SabreSat
Otter is built on Redwire’s U.S.-built SabreSat Orbital Drone, a new breed of satellite designed for performance, endurance and cost-effectiveness in VLEO. The spacecraft will showcase innovative software and hardware systems designed to extend spacecraft life and enhance performance in challenging low-altitude orbital environments.
This Q4 2025 award further strengthens Redwire’s leadership in VLEO capabilities, complementing its role as prime contractor for the European Space Agency’s Skimsat mission and its digital engineering work for DeepSat’s planned vLEO constellation.
Artistic rendition of Skimsat on-orbit, courtesy of Thales Alenia Space
VLEO represents an exciting new frontier for defense, intelligence, and communications missions. Through our work with DARPA, we are accelerating the development of cutting-edge capabilities that will define the future of this domain,” said Tom Campbell, President, Space Missions at Redwire. “With Otter and our SabreSat platform, we are delivering higher-performance missions at lower altitudes: improving sensor perception and proximity to targets of interest, increasing revisit, reducing latency, and redefining mission resilience.”