WASHINGTON — Redwire says it expects to find more business opportunities on both sides of the Atlantic despite geopolitical challenges that could hamper international cooperation.
Redwire executives, in a May 12 earnings call to discuss the company’s first quarter financial results, emphasized recent contract wins in Europe and the growth of the company there, such as the opening of a new office in Poland.
“On the space side, you really see a wakeup call over in Europe on the fact that they’ve started to fall behind the U.S. and China in terms of having an independent national program for space, and this is a resulting in a real interest in additional investment in that area,” Peter Cannito, chairman and chief executive of Redwire, said on the call.
He highlighted several contracts Redwire recently won from European companies and the European Space Agency in space. That included a contract from Thales Alenia Space to provide four docking mechanisms for the I-Hab module that Thales is building as part of ESA’s contribution to the lunar Gateway.
Gateway, though, is under threat as NASA’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 seeks to cancel the program. Cannito said Redwire was undeterred, and went so far as to suggest that Europe might go its own way with Gateway, a partnership that also includes Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates, if NASA drops out.
“If you take something like Gateway, for instance, Europe may not stop their development just because the U.S. changes their strategy,” he said. “They may just repurpose or redirect or look for new partners internationally to continue that development.”
If Gateway is canceled, he added, he expected European funding of it to shift to other programs. “It’ll just be creating new opportunities, as well as some interest in continuing to fund programs that are already underway.”
In the United States, he downplayed the proposed cancellations at NASA. “Any changes to the budgets for Gateway will likely be offset with increased funding for direct-to-lunar infrastructure or potential future Mars missions,” he said. “When you’re focused on space infrastructure, even when the programs change, there’s a really strong role for us to play.”
Cannito added that the company has not been affected significantly by the new wave of tariffs enacted by the United States and by other countries in response. The company has a U.S.-based supply chain for its work for U.S. customers, including government agencies, while relying on a European supply chain for working with international customers.
“We have yet to see notable widespread price increases or shocks due to tariffs,” he said, other than “one-off cases” the company is dealing with individually.
“We believe that the current trade environment may lead to both increasing investment in U.S. manufacturing and in European space and defense budgets that could benefit Redwire’s significant manufacturing presence in both regions,” he concluded.
Cannito highlighted “strong growth trends” for U.S. space and defense spending overall, including initiatives like the Golden Dome missile defense system. In the case of Golden Dome, he said the company is looking to offer spacecraft, sensors and digital engineering systems.
Redwire is looking to tap into increased defense spending not just with space systems but also with its acquisition of drone manufacturer Edge Autonomy. That $925 million deal, announced in January, is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, he said.
“We’re making a transformation from being a pure-play space company to both space and defense tech, particularly targeting those multi-domain missions that utilize space on and autonomous systems,” he said, adding that the company will be “opportunistic” with any future acquisitions of defense or space companies.
Redwire, which reported an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) loss of $2.3 million on $61.4 million in revenue in the first quarter, said it was maintaining a full-year forecast of $535 million to $605 million in revenue and $70 million to $105 million in adjusted EBITDA, despite near-term uncertainty.
“In 2025 there has been significant commercial market uncertainty, especially in the U.S. defense and government services sector with the incoming new administration,” said Jonathan Baliff, chief financial officer of Redwire. “We acknowledge that there is volatility with the rest of 2025. However, our previous combined forecast was meant to be conservative, and as of today, we believe that we are still on track to end 2025 within our previously provided ranges.”
