Redwire secures $20 million DARPA contract for VLEO precursor flight

Redwire Corporation announced on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, that it received a $20 million contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, as SatNews, Satellite Today, FlightGlobal, Payload Space, Investing.com, and Business Wire all reported. The uncrewed mission involves a precursor flight test in very low Earth orbit using a scaled-down version of Redwire's SabreSat spacecraft. [1][2][3][4][5][6]

SatNews and Satellite Today both report that this award adds a second flight mission to DARPA's Otter program. SatNews reports that the contract brings total announced DARPA Otter funding to $64 million. According to Satellite Today, Spence Wise, senior vice president of Space Missions for Redwire, stated that the rapid flight experiment will fly ahead of the full Otter VLEO mission and will be a short-duration flight. [1][2]

Operating in very low Earth orbit, which is defined as the orbital band below 300 kilometers, provides defense payloads with closer proximity to surface targets, SatNews reported. This lower altitude improves optical and radio frequency resolution. [1]

Redwire Corporation is an American space infrastructure company based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency operates as a research and development agency under the United States Department of Defense, tasked with developing emerging technologies for military use. [1][7][8]