Kratos Receives $34.8M Contract for Valkyrie Mission System Integration
22 January 2025 - 12:00AM
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS),
a Technology Company in Defense, National Security and Global
Markets, announced today a $34,856,449 award modification to a
previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract from the U.S.
Marine Corps. The expanded scope is to support the XQ-58A Unmanned
Aerial Systems mission systems and subsystems integration for the
Marine Air-Ground Task Force Unmanned Aerial System Expeditionary
(MUX) Tactical Aircraft (TACAIR).
Since 2022, Kratos and its industry partner,
Northrop Grumman, have been working with the U.S. Marine Corps
to define operational requirements for the MQ-58 Valkyrie
variant. The team recently demonstrated advanced collaborative
capabilities during the Penetrating Affordable Autonomous
Collaborative Killer Portfolio (PAACK-P) program, which is
transitioning to MUX TACAIR in 2025. The modification contract
provides the additional non-recurring engineering and material to
support the planned spiral developmental efforts, as well as
additional flight tests for the continuing capability enhancement
of the Valkyrie system.
Work under this contract will be performed in
Sacramento, California, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, China Lake,
California and Patuxent River, Maryland.
Col Derek Brannon, Director of the HQ
USMC Cunningham Group, said, “The U.S. Marine Corps is at
the vanguard of collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) development and
intends to field an operational CCA squadron with a tactically
relevant aircraft equipped with effective, affordable mission
system payloads.”
Steve Fendley, President of Kratos
Unmanned Systems Division, said, “The Valkyrie is
validating the thesis that uncrewed system development and
evaluation can be executed at a fraction of the cost and schedule
required for manned military jet aircraft systems. The immediate
takeaway is recognizing that uncrewed systems can be teamed in the
very near term with existing fielded manned aircraft—reducing risk
and increasing effectiveness and life of the manned systems long
before replacement or next generation manned systems can be
fielded, not to mention afforded. It’s an incredible
opportunity.”
The Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie is a
high-performance, runway-independent tactical unmanned aerial
vehicle capable of long-range flights at high-subsonic speeds.
Combining affordability, survivability, long-range, high-subsonic
speeds, maneuverability and ability to carry flexible mission kit
configurations and mix of lethal weapons from its internal weapons
bay and wing stations, the XQ-58A provides unmatched operational
flexibility at an affordable price for multiple DoD customers.
About Kratos Defense & Security
SolutionsKratos Defense & Security Solutions,
Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology, products, system and
software company addressing the defense, national security, and
commercial markets. Kratos makes true internally funded research,
development, capital and other investments, to rapidly develop,
produce and field solutions that address our customers’ mission
critical needs and requirements. At Kratos, affordability is a
technology, and we seek to utilize proven, leading-edge approaches
and technology, not unproven bleeding edge approaches or
technology, with Kratos’ approach designed to reduce cost, schedule
and risk, enabling us to be first to market with cost effective
solutions. We believe that Kratos is known as an innovative
disruptive change agent in the industry, a company that is an
expert in designing products and systems up front for successful
rapid, large quantity, low-cost future manufacturing which is a
value-add competitive differentiator for our large traditional
prime system integrator partners and also to our government and
commercial customers. Kratos intends to pursue program and contract
opportunities as the prime or lead contractor when we believe that
our probability of win (PWin) is high and any investment required
by Kratos is within our capital resource comfort level. We intend
to partner and team with a large, traditional system integrator
when our assessment of PWin is greater or required investment is
beyond Kratos’ comfort level. Kratos’ primary business areas
include virtualized ground systems for satellites and space
vehicles including software for command & control (C2) and
telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C), jet powered unmanned
aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles and rocket systems,
propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions,
supersonic systems, space craft and launch systems, C5ISR and
microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense,
space, satellite, counter UAS, directed energy, communication and
other systems, and virtual & augmented reality training systems
for the warfighter. For more information,
visit www.KratosDefense.com.
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking
StatementsCertain statements in this press release may
constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current
beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Kratos
and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking
statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date they are made, and Kratos undertakes no obligation to
update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise. Although Kratos believes
that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements
are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially
from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking
statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in
these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the
business of Kratos in general, see the risk disclosures in the
Annual Report on Form 10-K of Kratos for the year ended December
31, 2023, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other
filings made with the SEC by Kratos.
Press Contact:Claire
Burghoffclaire.burghoff@kratosdefense.com
Investor
Information:877-934-4687investor@kratosdefense.com
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