The 106,000-square-foot expansion is reported to reflect increased demand for Kratos Jet Drones and the company’s continued investment in strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base.
SAN DIEGO—Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a technology company active in the defense and national security markets, recently announced a major expansion of its Oklahoma City manufacturing campus with the addition of more than 100,000 square feet of manufacturing and production space.
The facility expansion supports increasing customer demand for the company’s high-performance, jet-powered drone systems, including the Valkyrie collaborative combat aircraft and the Firejet/Mighty Hornet IV, Kratos stated in a release.
According to Kratos, the expansion represents its continued investment in strengthening the United States defense industrial base through scalable, efficient manufacturing capacity capable of producing affordable, mission-ready systems at quantity and at speed. Today, Kratos produces approximately 165 high-performance jet drones annually, and this expansion will enable the company to further increase production to meet growing demand from the U.S. military and allied customers.
“The future fight demands the ability to rapidly produce affordable, high-performance systems at scale,” said Steve Fendley, president of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, in a prepared statement. “This expansion in Oklahoma City reflects our long-term commitment to investing ahead of customer demand and building the industrial capacity needed to support the Department of War’s modernization priorities. As autonomous systems become increasingly central to the future force, manufacturing readiness and producing at scale will be just as important as technology readiness, maybe more.”
The expanded facility will provide additional manufacturing, assembly, integration, and test capacity for multiple Kratos tactical jet aircraft programs.
Production will support Valkyrie, described as “the affordable, runway-flexible collaborative combat aircraft selected by the U.S. Marine Corps as the foundation of its Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program of record.” Designed to operate solo, in swarms, or alongside crewed aircraft while providing additional mass, reach, and mission capability, Valkyrie represents a new generation of affordable autonomous airpower, the company said in the release.
The expanded facility will also manufacture the Mighty Hornet IV, expected to serve as a key tactical capability supporting Taiwan’s defense requirements. The plan is said to reflect growing international demand for affordable, high-performance unmanned systems.
The enlarged facility will also support increased production capacity for the Kratos family of high-performance aerial target systems, including the Firejet.
As demand for advanced target capabilities continues to grow, the Firejet system is reported to support realistic operational test, evaluation, and weapons training across the U.S. military and allied nations. This includes test and training of missile, radar, air defense, C-UAS and directed energy weapon systems, and their crews, according to the release.
“Kratos has consistently invested in manufacturing infrastructure, production technologies, and workforce development to ensure the company can deliver affordable systems at the pace and scale required by evolving national security needs,” the release stated. “The Oklahoma City expansion is the latest in a series of investments focused on expanding domestic production capacity and strengthening the resilience of the U.S. defense industrial base.”