SAN FRANCISCO – Redwire acquired Roccor, a Longmont, Colorado, a company known for deployable spacecraft structures, and signaled its intention to continue expanding in an effort to become a leading space infrastructure company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
“Roccor is exactly the type of company we are looking to add to the Redwire platform — a proven, growth company with a list of top-tier customers that is also an industry disruptor,” Peter Cannito, Redwire chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “We are very excited to work closely with the talented Roccor team to build on their tremendous success and accelerate their advanced technologies.”
Roccor, founded in 2012, supplies deployable booms, structures, antennas, thermal products and solar arrays for spacecraft. Roccor technology is flying on 75 spaceflight NASA, the U.S. Defense Department and commercial space missions.
“Redwire is an exciting company at the forefront of space innovation and development,” Roccor President Chris Pearson, who will remain in that role after the acquisition is completed, said in a statement. “The global satellite industry is growing rapidly, and the financial and operational support from Redwire and AE Industrial will allow us to keep pace with the demands of a constantly evolving industry.”
AE Industrial Partners, a private equity firm, formed Redwire in June 2020 with the acquisitions of Deep Space Systems and Adcole Space. Redwire then acquired Made In Space.
“Redwire is in a growth mode,” Cannito told SpaceNews by email. “We are looking to strategically develop the company by adding differentiated capabilities that enhance our space infrastructure strategy.”
By acquiring Roccor, Redwire is expanding its technology portfolio to include deployable structures for commercial and military satellites. Roccor’s products, including stand-alone booms, hinges, solar arrays and antennas, “will augment Redwire’s current space infrastructure solutions to offer more innovative capabilities and deliver even greater performance at substantially lower costs for its customers,” according to the Oct. 29 news release.
“AE Industrial set out to build Redwire because we recognized a need to bring together fast-growing yet established innovators with companies that possess extensive flight heritage,” AEI Partner Kirk Konert said in a statement. “Roccor brings added capabilities, an impressive customer list, and an incredible workforce that we are confident will achieve amazing results as part of Redwire.”