Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, Inc., the California based jet-powered drone manufacturer has won a more than $37 million contract for its Oklahoma City manufacturing plant.
The $37,771,577 award from the AFLCMC/WA Advanced Aircraft Program Executive Office is for the Skyborg Delivery to integrate, test and deliver the XQ-58A Valkyrie unmanned aircraft.
The Air Force’s Skyborg project is development of unmanned combat aerial vehicles that will accompany a manned fighter aircraft. As of this year, contracts were awarded to Kratos, Boeing, General Atomics and Northrup Grumman.
Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division made the announcement. The Skyborg Program is one of three U.S. Air Force Vanguard programs and is focused on expansion of unmanned aircraft, particularly Artificial Intelligence.
The Kratos XQ-58A has been flying since March of 2019, approximately 30 months after aircraft conception, and was designed specifically for these applications and the ability to support missions from ISR to Strike in manned-unmanned teaming scenarios or in unmanned only mission sets.
The contract includes three phases of design, integration, and flight testing of the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie system, integrating multiple customer-defined mission payloads and customer-defined autonomy in coordination/cooperation with the Skyborg System Design Agent company, Leidos. Kratos currently works in partnership with Leidos’ Dynetics on the Gremlins Program.
Kratos first opened its Oklahoma City facility in 2018, using the wide, open space at Will Rogers Business Park to manufacture its “target” drones, which are advanced UAVs that can be programmed to mimic hostile aircraft and missiles. The company added Valkyrie production last year after announcing all of its tactical drones would be built in Oklahoma.