DARPA Advances VLEO Mission with Redwire
Phase 2 Contract Valued at $44 Million
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) has awarded a contract valued at $44 million to Redwire to advance its VLEO Otter mission that will demonstrate the world’s first air-breathing spacecraft and advance next-generation orbital capabilities. 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.
“With Otter and our SabreSat platform, we are delivering higher-performance missions at lower altitudes.”
Tom Campbell, Redwire
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.
“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.”
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.