Kratos Target Drone Factory Expanding

The shop floors of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc.’s buildings in Sacramento are bustling with activity as the factories are expanding into new space and the company is filling more orders for target drones for the military.

Earlier this month, San Diego-based Kratos (Nasdaq: KTOS) received new orders from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force for $57 million for its jet-powered unmanned aircraft.

The military uses Kratos aircraft for target practice and training for its advanced weapons systems.

The company is now expanding its main manufacturing building at 5381 Raley Blvd. in North Sacramento and another location at McClellan Park, said Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division. The company also has an engineering office in Roseville.

Kratos has installed newer, better and larger equipment to build larger aircraft, and to keep up its manufacturing pace, said Mel Bailey, vice president of production operations with Kratos.

With the exception of the jet engine, all the major components of the unmanned systems division’s drones are built, assembled, painted, tested and shipped in Sacramento, Fendley said.

With the new contracts, Kratos is now filling 60 job openings. The company already employs 440 people in Sacramento and Roseville, making it the sixth-largest manufacturer in the region.

Kratos is hiring carbon composite fabricators, electrical workers, engineers, assemblers and other positions. The company has had its best success recruiting at Air Force bases when personnel leave the service, Bailey said.

In Sacramento, the company recently replaced an autoclave the size of a tank on a railroad tank car with an autoclave the size of an entire locomotive. The larger autoclave will be used to make Kratos’ new larger attack plane, called the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie is an unmanned military tactical aircraft. The remotely controlled plane successfully completed its first flight in March at the U.S. Air Force proving ground in Arizona. The Valkyrie is also built in Sacramento, but that system is classified, and the Business Journal couldn’t get pictures of its assembly.

Some of Kratos’ planes are destroyed in target practice, but in many cases, the targets can be reused. On average, the targets fly about five times. Some make it up to 10 flights because the weapons that soldiers shoot at them have recording and transmitting equipment on them instead of kinetic warheads, Fendley said. The Kratos planes have parachutes for landing, which is cheaper and safer than landing on a runway.

Source: Sacremento Business Journal

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