At least 350 jobs are coming to Oklahoma with the move of a California-based jet-powered drone maker to Oklahoma City and Burns Flat.
Kratos Defense and Security Solutions Inc. officials joined Gov. Mary Fallin on Friday in making the announcement. It is moving part of its engineering, design and manufacturing operations to Oklahoma City.
What makes the Kratos drones unique is that they are jet-powered.
“We can fly our aircraft as a wingman for an F-22,” Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ unmanned systems division said in a news conference on Friday. “The manned pilot can fly to a proximity and deploy the unmanned aircraft farther without having to threaten himself.”
The company already has a handful of engineers and about two dozen support workers at a temporary site in Oklahoma City. But now the firm is looking for a permanent operational site close to Tinker Air Force Base where it could carry out more research and locate production offices.
“All of the pieces in Oklahoma fit what we were looking for,” he said. “We wanted a state that is supportive of the business we’re in, supportive of the military, supportive of advancements of our capability testing, have a close proximity to military bases and have the potential for a flight test facility.”
The company is also in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration to carry out test flights at the Oklahoma Air and Space Port in Burns Flat which has the third-longest civilian airport runway in the country.
“We hope to eventually do ground testing and possibly eventually flight testing there,” Fendley said. “If we can do that, Oklahoma is really our center focus for all the development work we do.”
“The opportunity to take advantage of a facility like Burns Flat with the proximity we have with the size and capacity and ceiling all the way to space, is incredible,” Fendley said.
Fendley told those on hand for the announcement he hopes to be located in the new facility by the end of 2018. Within five years, the facility is expected to have 350 to 500 employees.
He said the company chose Oklahoma after meeting with U.S. Rep. Steve Russell, Governor Mary Fallin and other state leaders. It wasn’t just the proximity to Tinker Air Force Base and the Burns Flat operation that attracted the drone-maker. Fendley also liked Oklahoma’s engineering and Quality Jobs tax credits.
Kratos is not a startup company, as Gov. Fallin pointed out, meaning it might not take the money and end up in bankruptcy court like Rocketplane did in 2010. Kratos has operations in 20 states and five countries as well as 3,000 employees and nearly $1 billion in contracts.
“When you get a company like Kratos to locate in Oklahoma, they have suppliers that will look at the possibility of coming to Oklahoma because they want to do business with a major supplier of unmanned aerospace and the latest technology,” Fallin said. “It’s great for Tinker and all of our other military installations to be able to partner with a company like this.”
The announcement also has excited State Commerce Department leaders such as Vince Howie, aerospace and defense director at the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.
“This is the beginning of a long and fruitful relationship,” he said. “We’ve brought aircraft manufacturing back to Oklahoma.”
Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce is equally excited.
“It represents the future of the industry. Much of what we have in Oklahoma City is maintenance and overhaul, which is taking care of everything that is old. This is the next wave of growth in the sector. We think this is a home run.”
