Redwire to Deliver Spacecraft for DARPA Otter VLEO Demonstration

by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Nov 20, 2025

Redwire Corporation has secured a 44 million dollar phase 2 contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to advance the Otter Very Low Earth Orbit mission. The contract supports the completion, manufacturing, and delivery of a spacecraft that will demonstrate the first air-breathing platform in VLEO, using Redwire's SabreSat design.

Tom Campbell, President of Space Missions at Redwire, stated, "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. 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."

The Otter vehicle is based on Redwire's US-built SabreSat Orbital Drone, engineered for sustained operation and cost-effectiveness in very low Earth orbit. The platform integrates new hardware and software systems to extend mission duration and boost performance under the challenging conditions found at lower orbital altitudes.

This latest contract award in Q4 2025 further reinforces Redwire's position in very low Earth orbit capabilities, supplementing its role as prime contractor for the European Space Agency's Skimsat mission and its digital engineering support for DeepSat's upcoming VLEO satellite constellation.