Voyager Technologies - Earnings Call - Q2 2025

Executive Summary

• Revenue beat but EPS missed: Q2 revenue rose 24.6% YoY to $45.674M, exceeding S&P Global consensus by ~$10.2M, while adjusted EPS of $(0.60) missed a $(0.26) consensus; drivers were 85% YoY growth in Defense & National Security (NGI and a large classified program) offset by Space Solutions decline from a NASA contract wind-down. Consensus from S&P Global: Revenue $35.49M*, EPS $(0.262)*.
• Balance sheet strength and funding: Ended Q2 debt-free with $468.9M cash and $668.9M total liquidity including an undrawn $200M revolver; IPO net proceeds were ~$409.4M, enabling organic and inorganic growth.
• Starlab execution and cash inflows: Achieved four NASA milestones in Q2 with $22.5M cash receipts; management sees ~$30M additional milestone receipts in 2H and confirms $218M total NASA Space Act funding to date.
• FY25 outlook set: Revenue $165–$170M and adjusted EBITDA $(63)–$(60)M, with sequential improvement in gross profit and adjusted EBITDA margins in 2H and Q4 > Q3, implying ~9% 2H sequential revenue growth vs 1H; ex-NASA services wind-down, revenue growth would be 29–33% YoY.
• Catalysts: Continued NGI ramp (>$50M FY25 revenue vs $24M FY24), potential awards on additional missile defense programs, Starlab CDR targeted for December 2025, and M&A additions (OPC, LEO Cloud) broadening content and capabilities.

What Went Well and What Went Wrong

What Went Well

• Defense & National Security outperformance: Segment net sales +85% YoY to $35.2M driven by NGI and an undisclosed program; management highlighted passing CDR for the NGI roll control subsystem and a successful hot-fire test, de-risking technology and supporting further content wins.
• Liquidity and deleveraging: “We enter the second half of 2025 with a differentiated, debt-free balance sheet, with total liquidity of $669 million…” — CEO Dylan Taylor. Term loan repaid; ended Q2 with $468.9M cash and an undrawn $200M revolver.
• Starlab progress and funding: “In the second quarter alone, we achieved four key development milestones resulting in $22,500,000 in cash receipts from NASA… 25 milestones completed to date” — CEO Dylan Taylor.

What Went Wrong

• Profitability still negative: Adjusted EBITDA loss widened YoY to $(9.066)M; free cash flow was $(27.194)M in Q2 as Starlab-driven capex continued; GAAP diluted EPS was $(1.23), with press release noting non-recurring IPO-related costs and $7.8M debt extinguishment costs within “Other” adjustments.
• Space Solutions headwind: Segment net sales fell 45% YoY to $11.1M due to the planned wind-down of a multiyear NASA services contract; management expects the drag to persist into 2H and early 2026 before returning to growth.
• Elevated innovation spend mix: Innovation spend was 84.6% of net sales (driven largely by Starlab), while “innovation spend excluding Starlab” was 17.8% of net sales; this supports future growth but weighs on near-term profitability.

Transcript

Speaker 3

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by. My name is Kelvin, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Voyager Technologies Q2 2025 earnings call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Adi Padva, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good morning. Welcome to Voyager Technologies' second quarter 2025 earnings call. I'm joined today by Dylan Taylor, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Phil De Sousa, our Chief Financial Officer. Today's calls include forward-looking statements, which involve risks and alternatives detailed in our earnings material and SEC filing, including the risk factors section of our IPO prospectus. We undertake no obligation to update these statements. We will also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. The conciliation of these measures is available in our earnings materials on our website. I will now turn the call over to Dylan.

Speaker 0

Thank you, Adi, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to welcome you to our first earnings call as a public company. I am super excited to share how Voyager Technologies is executing on the platform we purpose-built to lead the next era of defense, national security, and space innovation. Voyager Technologies was founded with a clear mission: to build an innovation and technology platform designed to both disrupt, as well as anticipate the evolving needs of the unique and mission-critical industries that we serve. Our success is supported by three strategic pillars, which we will cover on each earnings call going forward. First, a high growth in profitable segments. Secondly, a relentless commitment to leading with innovation. Third, the transformational opportunity of Starlab Space Stations project.

To be specific, Voyager Technologies is a high-growth platform expected to deliver an organic CAGR of over 25%, with additional upside through disciplined and accretive M&A activity. We operate within a $179 billion addressable market, spanning missile defense, space-based systems, and advanced deterrent capabilities. Our robust pipeline of $3.6 billion in qualified opportunities underscores our ability to convert visible opportunities into long-term revenue and create meaningful shareholder return. We built a company that can operate with the scale and discipline of a prime contractor, but with the agility and innovation engine of a high-growth technology company, where product development, IP creation, and accretive capital allocation are core to our business model. Over 18% of our revenue is invested in innovation and developing proprietary mission-critical capabilities, with much of that funded by our customers. We are also accelerating the deployment of our multi-use technologies.

For example, to support Golden Dome missile defense systems, we leverage our technological capabilities from propulsion to optical sensors, navigation, and controls, all of which enable us to capture new opportunities. Importantly, we operate with a commercial business model in markets traditionally dominated by government structures, enabling us to move with speed and efficiency. Whether it's smart missile defense systems and/or propulsion technology, or our software-enabled signals intelligence, we're advancing scalable next-generation solutions to directly address the growing needs of our customers. This foundation makes Voyager Technologies fundamentally different from traditional defense and space contractors. As a commercial platform, we are CapEx light, IP-focused, and operationally efficient. Furthermore, we maintain a fortress balance sheet with $460 million in cash, $200 million in available credit, and no debt, which is highly differentiated amongst our competitors.

Additionally, we offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity through our Starlab joint venture, where Voyager Technologies is the majority owner and lead developer of a commercial replacement to the International Space Station. Turning to slide four, as a reminder, Voyager Technologies operates across three compelling business segments, each aligned to high growth and markets and the evolving priorities of defense, national security, and space. Our defense and national security segment is our largest and fastest growing. We are a leader in controllable solid fuel propulsion and signals intelligence technologies, driving the future of missile defense, threat detection, and advanced communications. Programs like Next Generation Interceptor, where our propulsion system recently passed critical design review, highlight our alignment with mission-critical defense priorities, including Golden Dome, as I mentioned earlier.

Our space solutions segment has a strong track record of enabling and expanding the space domain by delivering innovative solutions for government and commercial missions. Furthermore, as demand grows, we will continue to develop advanced hardware and software systems that enable critical capabilities like communications, infrastructure, and mission management. Finally, Starlab Space Stations, perhaps one of the most compelling long-term growth opportunities in the commercial space market. We are the majority shareholder of the joint venture, building the commercial successor to the ISS. To date, we've been awarded over $218 million by NASA. To emphasize, Starlab is an infrastructure-like project with an upfront investment to develop the station, followed by massive multi-decade free cash flow streams. As indicated in our prospectus, once in orbit, we expect Starlab to generate over $4 billion in annual revenue and over $1.5 billion in free cash flow.

Collectively, our segments provide shareholders unique access to growing mission-critical systems and programs and create multiple paths for long-term value creation. Turning to slide five, our first quarter as a public company marks another step forward in our company's trajectory, driven by advancing our strategic growth priorities and executing with discipline. We completed our IPO in June, raising more than $400 million in net proceeds and establishing a $200 million credit facility, providing us with a fortress balance sheet to further support our growth strategy. Now, on to second quarter results. I am extremely pleased to share that we have posted record quarterly revenue of $46 million, up 25% year over year, driven by 85% growth in our defense and national security segment. We continue to scale our platform through targeted acquisitions that enhance our technology stack and open new market opportunities.

During the quarter, we acquired Leo Cloud, an Optical Physics Company. These businesses expand our vision for space-based cloud services and smart missile defense systems, strengthening our ability to pursue high-value contracts across our segments. These acquisitions reflect our disciplined approach to M&A, proprietarily sourced, relationship-driven, strategically aligned, and designed to create long-term accretive growth by enhancing core strategic capabilities. On Starlab, we continue to make meaningful progress. In the second quarter alone, we achieved four key development milestones, resulting in $22.5 million in cash receipts from NASA. That brings us to 25 milestones completed to date, each one marking tangible progress towards building the commercial replacement for the International Space Station that is scheduled to launch to orbit in 2029. Over the next two slides, we highlight two visible growth drivers for Voyager. First, our advanced throttle propulsion technology selected for Next Generation Interceptor, also referred to as NGI.

As mentioned, we recently completed critical design review for the second-stage roll control system on NGI, a major technical milestone. This propulsion solution is the first of its kind, enabling precise in-flight targeting and control. Completing CDR is a critical step towards delivering a flight-qualified, production-ready subsystem for NGI's fielding. NGI is the premier U.S. missile defense program, a multi-decade billion-dollar-plus revenue opportunity for us, and a clear example of how Voyager is positioned to lead the next generation of missile defense. On slide seven, we highlight our accretive capital deployment strategy. During the quarter, we completed two acquisitions, and today we highlight Optical Physics Company, OPC, a vertically integrated addition that strengthens our defense and national security segment with proprietary optical technologies. OPC extends our platform into critical subsystems used across missile defense and advanced surveillance applications. OPC's Star Tracker systems enhance our optical navigation product suite.

This positions Voyager Technologies to compete for higher value programs and increases the relevance of our broader platform. Our M&A strategy is focused on identifying high-impact technologies, integrating them into our platform, and driving accretive growth while deepening our alignment with customer needs. In summary, we are executing with focus and momentum, supported by a platform purpose-built for this market. The opportunities ahead are significant and measurable, and I'm confident in our team, strategy, and technology to capitalize on them. I'll turn it over to Phil to walk through the financials in more detail.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Dylan. Turning to slide eight. For the second quarter, we delivered revenue of $46 million, a 25% year-over-year increase, reflecting strong demand within our defense and national security segment. Excluding the planned wind-down of a multi-year NASA services contract within our space solution segment, overall growth for Voyager Technologies was 45%. Adjusted EBITDA for the second quarter was a loss of $9.1 million compared to a loss of $8 million last year. The modest increase reflects strategic investment to build infrastructure, systems, and acquire talent to support our long-term growth trajectory as a newly formed public company. I'll emphasize here that we're executing intentionally and investing ahead of the growth curve to ensure we scale efficiently. On the bottom line, adjusted EPS was a loss of $0.60 compared to a loss of $1.29 in the prior year period, with the per-share improvement reflecting IPO-related dilution.

Now, turning to slide nine, I'll cover off our operating performance by segment. Beginning with defense and national security, our largest and fastest growing segment. For the second quarter, strong execution and higher volume from key programs, including Next Generation Interceptor, drove an 85% increase in segment revenue. Adjusted EBITDA rose 80% to $1.8 million, primarily reflecting contribution from our top-line performance. Now, switching gears to our space solution segment. Revenue was $11.1 million, down 45% year over year. Segment adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $1.3 million, with the performance reflecting the planned wind-down of a multi-year NASA services contract, as I mentioned earlier. Finally, Starlab continues to show steady progress. During the second quarter, we achieved four additional key development milestones and received approximately $23 million in milestone-based cash payments.

These receipts are attributable to our $218 million funded space act agreement with NASA and materially offset our investment in the program. As a result, we are advancing what we believe is a transformational commercial opportunity in the evolving low-Earth orbit economy. Wrapping up here, we are encouraged by the momentum we are seeing and remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable long-term growth across all three of our core businesses. Now, let's turn to slide 10, and I'll cover off our financial position. As we embark on our journey as a public company, we do so with a fortress balance sheet, a position of financial strength that enables both focused execution today and strategic growth for the long term.

Following the successful completion of our IPO and repayment of our $58 million term loan, we ended the quarter with $469 million in cash, debt-free, and with access to an undrawn $200 million revolving credit facility. Our robust capital position provides flexibility to scale production, invest in innovation, and pursue disciplined M&A. This, combined with our disciplined capital allocation strategy, CapEx light model, and the multi-decade cash generation potential of Starlab, reinforces our confidence in delivering meaningful returns to shareholders. Now, turning to slide 11, I'll cover off our outlook for fiscal year 2025. Beginning with the top line, we expect revenue in the range of $165 to $170 million, representing year-over-year growth of 15% to 18%. Excluding the impact of the NASA services contract within space solutions that is winding down, year-over-year growth would be in the range of 29% to 33%.

This means that for the second half, we anticipate revenue of approximately $87 million at the midpoint, reflecting 9% sequential growth over the first half, a 13% increase compared to the second half of 2024, or a 34% excluding the impact associated with the wind-down of the NASA services contract within space solutions. For the full year, we expect adjusted EBITDA between negative $60 million to $63 million. Underpinning our second half expectations is sequential improvement in both gross profit and adjusted EBITDA margins, with the fourth quarter higher than the third quarter, reflecting both the anticipated top-line progression and favorable mix. In summary, we are scaling rapidly and focused on delivering high growth, executing effectively across high-priority programs, investing in mission-critical innovation, and driving improved financial performance.

Our capital light operating model, combined with disciplined execution, continues to support margin expansion and strong cash flow conversion potential over time, especially when layering in Starlab. With that, I'll turn it back over to Dylan for some closing remarks.

Speaker 0

Thanks, Phil. We enter this next chapter with strong momentum, clear alignment to long-term industry priorities, and a differentiated platform built for high growth. We're executing across our existing key programs, expanding through innovation, our opportunity set, and our position to capitalize on the tailwinds shaping the future of defense, national security, and space. We're proud of the foundation we've built and confident in our ability to deliver long-term value for our shareholders. Operator, we're now ready to take questions.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. As we enter the Q&A session, we ask that you please limit your input to one question and one follow-up. I would like to remind everyone to ask a question, please press the star button followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. One moment, please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Ron Epstein of Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. If you could speak a little bit to, you know, kind of maybe a bigger picture question, just more broadly on, you know, what makes you feel comfortable with the growth outlook that you guys are expecting? This quarter was, you know, numbers came in, but when we think about, you know, kind of the go-forward algorithm for the company, what makes you all feel comfortable about that growth?

Speaker 0

Yeah, thanks for the question, Ron. A couple of thoughts. First is the markets that we're, or segments that we're playing in. For example, one of the growth drivers this quarter and this year, in fact, has been our throttle propulsion technology, which of course is on Next Generation Interceptor. In addition to that, we're also on Next Generation Interceptor with our optical navigation system and increasingly being asked for more intelligence on that system as well, with software-enabled hardware. As we know, Golden Dome is yet to be totally defined yet in terms of exactly what it is, but what we do know is there's a big push by the administration for additional investment in smart missile defense systems. As we mentioned earlier, we've passed critical design review now with our throttle propulsion technology.

If you look at all those key drivers for generally smart missile defense systems, we're very well positioned with our technology, not only for the existing volumes within NGI, which we think are very, very solid, but the possibility that those volumes will increase. Of course, additional smart missile defense programs, including space-to-space interceptors, which is a key focus area for the administration, and our technology is also relevant to that segment as well. I think that's a big category that gives us confidence not only in the second half of the year, but 2026 and beyond. The other thing I'll just mention is M&A. We have a very, very robust M&A pipeline, and I'm very confident, Ron, that in the back half of the year, you know, we mentioned two acquisitions in this quarter. I don't think those will be the only acquisitions we get done in 2026.

I think it's highly likely we'll have more to report on the acquisition side here in the near future. Just final point, of course, everything that we're talking about would be supplemented by Starlab with future growth as well. As I mentioned earlier, we've hit all our milestones to date. I think we just hit our 25th milestone, and we anticipate hitting future milestones in the back half of the year. Those would be the key drivers that I would put forward. Phil, do you have anything to chime in on?

Speaker 2

Yeah, sure. Ron, thanks for the question. Just perhaps echoing some of Dylan's points and adding a couple of statistical data points for you all. As a reminder, we've got about a $3.6 billion opportunity pipeline, and that's growing. We're also excited, as Dylan mentioned, about the acquisitions we did here this past quarter and anticipate here over the course of the second half. We also anticipate that those acquisitions will open up new revenue opportunities for us as Voyager. As we've said, one of our M&A opportunities is to vertically integrate, but also horizontally into attractive new spaces. That $3.6 billion pipeline I mentioned earlier is heavily weighted towards the defense and national security segment, about three quarters of that, 75%.

As a reminder, we anticipate the defense and national security segment to outpace the growth of space solutions, with the defense and national security segment growing about 35% over the long term. That's all supported by, obviously, not just Next Generation Interceptor, but the applications of propulsion technology, our optical sensors, into other missile defense platforms that effectively support Golden Dome.

Got it. Just a quick follow-up. Is there anything on the radar today that concerns you guys? Is there anything you're worried about?

Speaker 0

I think we might have chatted about this previously, you and I, Ron, one-on-one. It's really just we've got to scale our technology, right? If I look at our propulsion technology in particular, our throttle propulsion technology, we're moving from the design phase to low-rate production to high-rate production. With any technology, making sure that you get that right is an important milestone for the company. Now that we've passed CDR, we know the tech risk has been retired, but scaling the ability to create more of those units over time, that's one thing that we're focused on. With M&A, we've acquired eight companies since our founding. As I said, we would anticipate doing additional M&A. You always have integration, I wouldn't call them challenges, but integration tasks that you need to get right as well. That would be another focus area.

Lastly, I know it sounds trite, but it's true, continuing to add talent to the platform. We've added talent here recently. I think you're aware of this, Ron, from both Anduril and Raytheon. Those have been terrific adds to the company. We've got at least one additional C-suite brand name hire, if you will, from a company you would recognize that we'll announce here in the next couple of weeks, probably. It's continuing to scale our team and our talent, that's another key focus area. Those would be the three areas I would offer up.

Speaker 2

Got it. Thank you very much.

Speaker 0

Thank you, Ron.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Ron.

Speaker 3

Your next question comes from the line of Sheila Kayagoglu of Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you, guys. Maybe just to continue off that theme, you know, defense and national security expect to grow faster, grew 85% in the quarter. Can you maybe parse out how much NGI contributed at any shift to that schedule, and then how we're thinking about Golden Dome applications? Would you be bidding with suppliers? Any expansion on that? Thank you.

Speaker 0

Yeah, sure. I'm going to ask Phil to take the first part of that question, and then I'll chime in on the second.

Speaker 2

Yeah, Sheila, good morning. Provide a couple of details there. One, first, maybe just remind everyone. Next Generation Interceptor last year, our largest contributor to revenue, represented about $24 million of our total revenue last year. As we look out this year, we anticipate that revenue to accelerate, increase to about $50 million on a four-year basis. This past quarter, $11 million from NGI. It was an increase quarter on quarter from the first quarter. As we look out over the second half, we anticipate NGI to continue to increase, posting well over 100% year-over-year growth. Next Generation Interceptor, obviously a key driver to our quarterly performance here, was not our only key program that delivered not just the revenue and the revenue growth in the quarter. We're excited about the balance and diversified portfolio that we do have.

Obviously, Next Generation Interceptor is in this kind of pre-phase as we're kind of wrapping up the design phase and expect and anticipate from here on out, as we move into production, revenue will continue to increase and it will continue to support our growth trajectory.

Speaker 0

Yeah, and maybe just to emphasize the second part of your question, Sheila, we're really a merchant supplier on a lot of these technologies. We're independent and we can sell to different prime contractors, which I think uniquely positions us for growth. The other thing is, as it relates to new programs, there are other programs that we're specced in on, and now that we've passed CDR and the tech risk has been retired, it's a validation that a lot of these programs that take their technology cues from NGI are much more comfortable with speccing in the technology now that it's passed CDR. I mentioned in my response to Ron, the space-to-space interceptor, which the administration is very focused on. They're talking about wanting to do a demonstration before this administration is over, which is obviously a very tight timeline.

Our technology, both on the propulsion side and optical navigation, is relevant to that capability. I think you asked the question, would we partner on that? Would we prime it? We're working through that right now in terms of exactly how we want to address that. The good news is our technology is highly relevant to that capability because both the propulsion technology and optical navigation really allow for that program to work. That gives us a high degree of confidence that one way or another, we're going to be part of that solution.

Great. If I could ask another one, maybe just an update on Starlab. You mentioned 25th milestone achieved to date and cash received in the quarter. How that works towards CLD2, any update around timing of that decision and what's being factored into the fiscal 2026 budget proposal?

Yeah, so in the latest bill that was passed by Congress, the funding for CLD is actually quite robust. Actually, in the outer years, there was an increase. As far as we know, the RFP is still due to come out before the end of the year with a selection sometime in 2026. That's the latest information we have. In terms of additional milestones for us, the next big one for us, which we would anticipate sometime in 2025, is our CDR for Starlab, that Earth Critical Design Review. As a reminder, we've already passed PDR, Preliminary Design Review. That's our next kind of key technical milestone. I believe on our project schedule, we have that for December, approximately. I would anticipate we'll pass that key milestone before the end of the year.

Great. Thank you.

Thanks, Sheila.

Speaker 3

Your next question comes from the line of Seth Seitzman of JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Thanks very much, and good morning. I wanted to ask about the signals intelligence and ISR business, including the work you're doing with Palantir. What should we be looking for there in terms of gauging that effort is on track and what the next milestones to watch for are there?

Speaker 0

Yeah, great question. Seth, thanks for the question. Of course, Palantir blew their quarter out yesterday, so we were happy to see that. A couple of thoughts. We're partnering with Palantir in a couple of ways. One, of course, is our, I'll call it software stack in general. As part of that, our ISR business is actually growing quite robustly. We're very excited about our capabilities there. I mentioned earlier M&A pipeline. Seth, pleased to report that much of that M&A pipeline is focused on software and software-enabled hardware for things like signals intelligence. I think there's a strong possibility that we'll have an acquisition in that category to report here, hopefully very soon, that we're quite excited about. That's one area. Also, with respect to Palantir, the other thing that we're doing with them, as you'll recall, is our edge computing initiative as well, called Vista.

That's the one where we're partnering with NVIDIA and Palantir to create an edge computing device that we would get on the manifest with NASA and run a demonstration mission on the International Space Station. One of the big trends in our industry is, rather than transmitting data from hardware in orbit back down to Earth, you know, via K-band or some kind of ancient communication technology, putting it in a cloud, computing the answer, and then sending that to the actionable answer to the end user and customer. The trend is, you know, why not just compute where the hardware is collecting the data and actually just transmit the answer? In situations where it's a contested environment, signals are being jammed. This is a really important capability. That's a key initiative with Palantir that's moving forward. We're excited about that.

We don't yet have a date on when that would be on the manifest in terms of doing the demo mission. Just the last thing I'll mention, this isn't related to Palantir, but I think it's relevant, is we're doing a push into cloud computing. You saw that very small acquisition we did, Leo Cloud. We didn't highlight it in our introductory remarks. That also comes with a demonstration mission that we're getting very close to providing to the customer, and will be flown in space. That's another thing, Seth, that maybe on the next quarter's call, we'll have a good update for you on that. That's another thing to monitor.

Just final point, I just want to emphasize that Palantir is also a partner on Starlab and is providing not only the help with the compute for Starlab and how we think about that, but also supply chain optimization and other technologies and capabilities that they have that can enhance our entire program. Very much a really important partner for us.

Great, thanks. Maybe as a follow-up, based on your comments before about the critical design review for roll control on NGI and what that can mean to others, does that bring us closer? Should we expect in the not-too-distant future that you'll be able to have some content on other existing missile defense interceptors?

Yes, I think we have a high degree of confidence that additional programs will spec our technology in, yes.

Excellent. Thanks very much.

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Your next question comes from the line of Christine Leeuwag of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Good morning everyone. Just following up on Seth's question on the opportunity for other programs. When you look at your ship set content on NGI and you're able to expand out your capabilities to other parts of the missile, can you talk about how much ship set content you could potentially increase if you see your technology applied to a larger scale? Is this 50% higher content? Also, as a follow-on to that, can you quantify the pipeline of business that you're pursuing today?

Speaker 0

Sure, I'll let Phil address that. Yeah, so, Christine, good morning. I mentioned earlier the $3.6 billion opportunity pipeline. Within that, I would highlight, well, one, Next Generation Interceptor represents about $1 billion from a production perspective. There's about another $1 billion of opportunities there. I won't articulate precisely which customer, but you can probably imagine which primes, if you would, are involved in missile defense. There's not too many. We are in active discussions with all on these incremental programs, not just the ones that, as Dylan alluded to earlier, we are already working on actively, but also pursuing in terms of potential future awards. That represents another $1 billion of opportunity. It's quite significant for us out here in the forefront. Timing of which, and just to dovetail on the previous question, is always a bit difficult. I appreciate Dylan's answer of yes.

We're highly confident we're going to see additional awards in this opportunity space. Timing of which is always a little bit more difficult to predict. If not in the second half, certainly we expect 2026 to be a rich year for Voyager Technologies.

Great, very helpful. A few weeks ago, you successfully conducted a static test of the hot running advanced solid propulsion subsystem for NGI. Can you give us some context regarding how important this technical milestone was, how important this was in terms of unlocking your NGI revenues for the year, and also giving you the opportunity to pursue the pipeline you just discussed?

Yeah, it's really important. I mean, there's elements of CDR. One element of CDR is sort of the theoretical design and making sure that that checks the box, and that's really important for CDR. It's really important you do a hot fire test. Hot fire and CDR are really linked. Christine is really the way to think about that. I think, you know, again, it gives a high degree of confidence not only to other prime contractors that might spec in our technology, but probably even more importantly, the end customers. Right? MDA is a key customer, but there are others as well that are working on these kinds of technologies. I think that's, yeah, they're very much intertwined, CDR and hot fire tests.

Speaker 2

I'd also just add, Christine, from NGI and what does it mean in terms of unlocking incremental revenue. First and foremost, our customer, Lockheed Martin, is working well with us to make sure that we're not only on time, to the extent that we can, we can accelerate our progress in wrapping up design to support their ultimate design, CDR, etc. The CDR passing here in the second quarter, it's not that it necessarily unlocks anything new, but we do anticipate that what it does is allow us to, as I mentioned earlier, continue to increase revenue sequentially in that program in the second half. That provides us a lot of confidence as we look out to our second half guide.

Speaker 0

Yeah, and just one final point I'll make. Optical Physics Company, I don't know if we stressed it when we were talking about that acquisition, optical physics, they're actually on Next Generation Interceptor as well, and they were technically our prime on the optical navigation system. In a way, we were on the optical navigation system. Optical Physics Company was the prime. We essentially acquired the prime for the optical navigation subsystem. To your point, we're aggregating more of the value and technology stack. They also bring additional capability in optical navigation, specifically with their star trackers, as I mentioned in my remarks. They have very, very high-end optical systems that we did not have within our product suite. The way we think about that is it's not only Next Generation Interceptor, but that's a product that we can further commercialize and sell into the commercial markets as well.

We're excited about that.

Great, thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you.

Speaker 3

Your next question comes from the line of David Strauss of Barclays. Please go ahead.

Thanks, good morning.

Speaker 2

Good morning.

To put a finer point on all the NGI questions, as part of your roadshow, you talked about $40 million in NGI revenue this year, and it now sounds like it's tracking to $50 million. Is that correct?

That's right, David, $50 million this year. As I mentioned just a little while ago, customers are actively working with us to ensure that not only that we can achieve on our timeline, which we've been doing all along the way, we've actually been a bright spot here, I think, for Lockheed, but also try to move as fast as we can so we can ultimately get into that production phase, which we anticipate would be in 2026.

Yeah, on that, I think you had shown kind of a leveling off in NGI in 2026 and then a ramp up to like $80 million in annual revenue. Is that still a trajectory, still this trajectory, but I guess just kind of off a higher base than you expected in 2025?

Correct, yeah, nothing changes in terms of that anticipation. We do have, as we wrap up design, and we're wrapping it up here in the second half of this year and early next year, there will be this bit more of a lull, if you would, a flattening before an acceleration as we move from design into low-rate production and then high-rate production when you think about 2027 and beyond. You got it nailed, David, thank you.

Okay, thanks. Quick follow-up on Starlab and I guess free cash flow for this year. How should we think about free cash flow for this year? What are you expecting potentially in additional, you know, NASA money or outside capital contributions on Starlab?

Maybe I'll take the first part here, highlight, and of course, Starlab is a bit more of the wildcard in terms of how capital expenditures are made and whatnot. I do expect there to be an increase in CapEx associated with Starlab as we move through the second half of the year. That's because we're achieving on all marks. You saw the milestones already. We highlighted this quarter four, achieved milestones, $22.5 million of milestone cash receipts. That's on top of the one significant milestone we achieved in the first quarter and $20 million of receipts. Second half of this year, we anticipate about another $30 million of milestone receipts and the balance of our fully funded $218 million NASA space act agreement to come in during the first quarter of next year.

I would say, I don't want to call it the core business because obviously Starlab is quite core to our thesis, but within defense and national security and our corporate operations, anticipate pretty consistent free cash flow performance in your first half, second half. You saw what we did from a second quarter free cash flow perspective. Overall, $27 million of a net outflow. I do anticipate, because of the Starlab capital expenditures in the fourth quarter, that we will see a tick up in cash flow. As it relates to the core business, we're pretty much steady state at this point.

Thank you.

Thanks, David.

Speaker 3

Your next question comes from the line of Miles Walton of Wolf Research. Please go ahead.

Thanks, good morning. There was quite a bit of movement in the NASA budget from a White House proposal that showed a $6 billion cut to a reconciliation bill that added $10 billion to it. Obviously, going through the congressional process for the full appropriations bill. Dylan, can you comment on what you're seeing in the budget, where the pluses and minuses are, and maybe with the space solution business, excluding the SpaceDocs contract, what that outlook for acceleration looks like?

Speaker 0

Yeah, great question, Miles. The key things that we're monitoring are the programs we're on, which is the existing International Space Station mission management business, and then, of course, CLD. As I mentioned earlier, the CLD funding is actually quite robust. It actually increased in the outer years compared to what was previously submitted. That funding appears to be intact and quite solid. No concerns there. International Space Station mission management revenue, it's really difficult to know because, as you saw, there were some cuts in the science budget as well, and some of those missions are science-related. What I would say is there's always a bottleneck for getting things on the manifest with NASA. If science missions were to decrease, I think commercial missions would increase. I don't anticipate any substantial impacts to our business from that change or that mix in change in product mix.

The real ones that have been flagged as vulnerable, which is primarily SLS, would be the biggest one. To a lesser extent, Gateway, although Gateway appears to be back front and center in the latest budget. We really don't have any exposure at all on SLS. On Gateway, we do have some revenue on our backlog on Gateway, but as I said, it appears that Gateway has been fully restored in the latest budget. We're not concerned there. I think in general, business as usual is what I would say. The other thing that I would just point out, Miles, is the more disruption in sort of how NASA's procuring services, the more commercial NASA is thinking about things, that actually plays to our strengths because our platform, as you know, is very highly maneuverable. We're very entrepreneurial. It's easy for us to pivot.

It's easy for us to bid on new opportunities. It's more difficult for the larger companies, traditional aerospace primes, to do that. In some respects, the fact that there's a lot of changes happening at NASA actually plays to our strengths, I would say.

Speaker 2

Miles, just to maybe tack on, just from a financial planning perspective, I anticipate obviously the low margin NASA services wind-down impact to continue here through the second half of the year. In fact, the second half impact will be greater than it was in the first half. Overall, we anticipate Voyager Technologies to expect that contract to be down $18 million year over year, with about $12 million of that year over year decline in the second half. We'll continue to face some headwind there through the first quarter of next year. From that point forward, I anticipate space solutions to see greener pastures, if you would, return to growth rates. Still a bit too early to predict 2026 from a guidance perspective.

Okay. Just one follow-up on the growth within defense and national security. You cited NGI clearly, but there was an undisclosed contract. I imagine it's classified, but any color you can provide as it relates to that contract, either scope, scale, duration, size, anything?

Sure. For a little that I can disclose, and in part that's because I don't actually have my own clearance, but think of it as actually being our largest contract within our revenue driver within the quarter, about $14 million. It is to another prime. It is obviously a contract we can't discuss. We did see a significant acceleration sequentially in revenue associated with that contract. I don't anticipate as much revenue contribution from it over the course of the second half, but we're working closely with the customer and we see additional opportunity to potentially enhance that as we go forward. We'll provide more updates, obviously to the extent that we can as we move along.

Okay, that's great. Thanks.

Thanks, thanks, Miles.

Speaker 3

Your next question comes from the line of Michael LeShock of KeyBank Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Mike. I wanted to ask on defense spending specifically internationally, with the target for some European NATO allies to increase defense spending to 5% GDP over time. I know international is a smaller piece for Voyager Technologies today, but do you see any opportunities internationally should budgets increase?

Speaker 0

Yeah, no, for sure. It's a great question. Thanks for bringing it up, Mike. Yeah, just a reminder, Airbus is a key partner for us on Starlab. Airbus, of course, is the largest A&D prime in Europe and is likely to capture a lot of this increase in defense spending in Europe. We've got a very good relationship with Airbus. We have a contract with them right now delivering software-defined radios for Airbus UK. We're already doing business with them in Europe. That's the lion's share of our European revenue to date. I think Airbus sees us as an innovation partner for them and someone who can help them, because if you look at their challenges, they've been asked to take on this additional defense spending and then create capabilities around that.

There is a supply chain in Europe that may be, to be fair, maybe not as much innovation in Europe happening as here in the U.S. I think we're very well positioned with Airbus or other partners like TASI in Italy and others to be an innovation partner for them. It is a key part of our long-term strategy to increase our global capability and revenue. Part of the challenge there is export control, as you're aware. Thinking through what technologies we're allowed to export into those geographies, I think, is an important consideration. We're very bullish on the increase in defense spending in Europe, and I think we're going to be able to create a lot of growth factors around that, given our relationships in that region.

Maybe a follow-up on Starlab. If we look at the International Space Station today, it's a global collaboration, and that's certainly a strength for Starlab and your JV partners. I'm wondering, are there other countries that currently are represented on the International Space Station, whether they built a module or operate it in some way, that might not necessarily move operations directly from the International Space Station to Starlab, and maybe they're seeking alternatives versus whoever wins the CLD award? If that is the case, is that something that's reflected in your long-term assumptions?

Yeah, if you look at the partners, let's take Russia out for the time being. You've got the European Union, you have Canada, and you have Japan. Of course, our JV partners reflect those different geographies as well. I don't anticipate any of those partners to have their own space station solution. I think that might have been part of your question, so I don't anticipate that. I think they'll be part of larger programs. I think they see Starlab as the most international of the different CLD phase one competitors, so we're well positioned there. In all cases, our vision for LEO is multiple space stations, right? We see capacity and demand for multiple space stations over the future. What is more likely to happen versus geographical specialization, if you will, is probably more functional specialization.

Things like science-dedicated space stations, manufacturing-dedicated space stations, biopharma-dedicated space stations, things like that. I think that's more likely the differentiation and subset of space stations in the future. Starlab is very well positioned, as you mentioned, to capture a lot of that international spend. I think that's the beauty of the JV we've created. We're feeling like we're very well positioned there.

All right, thank you.

Thank you.

Speaker 3

There are no further questions at this time. With that, I will turn the call back over to Dylan Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, for closing remarks. Please go ahead.

Speaker 0

Thank you very much, Operator. Just to reiterate, we've entered the next chapter with strong momentum, clear alignment to long-term industry priorities, and a differentiated platform built for high growth. We're executing across key programs, expanding through innovation, and are positioned to capitalize on the tailwinds shaping the future. We're very proud of the foundation we've built and confident in our ability to deliver long-term value for our shareholders. I want to thank you all for joining, and we look forward to speaking to you on the next earnings call next quarter. Thanks so much.

Speaker 3

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.