Kratos's Hypersonic Aussie "Drone"

[Kirkhill]

Kratos has had a busy year - 40 press releases in 12 months with a lot of innovation for a relatively small company.

Long range "drones" and solid fuel rocketry at the top of the list, along with comms.

https://ir.kratosdefense.com/press-releases

 

[dimsum]

Kratos has had a busy year - 40 press releases in 12 months with a lot of innovation for a relatively small company.

Long range "drones" and solid fuel rocketry at the top of the list, along with comms.

https://ir.kratosdefense.com/press-releases

While yes, they’ve had a lot of press releases, a cursory scan includes the quarterly results (4 of the releases), a call for said results (another 4 of the releases), retirement of their leadership, etc.

It seems like they announce anything and everything.

 

[Kirkhill]

Kratos boosts Oklahoma plant to produce more military jet-powered drones
Kratos expands its Oklahoma City facility to produce more Valkyrie combat drones, Firejet aerial targets, and other jet-powered unmanned aircraft.

Kratos to boost drone output with 106,000 sq ft Oklahoma expansion

Kratos adds over 100,000 square feet manufacturing space to boost production of Valkyrie collaborative aircraft and Firejet target drones.

interestingengineering.com

The company announced it is adding more than 106,000 square feet of manufacturing and production space to increase output of systems, including the XQ-58A Valkyrie collaborative combat aircraft, Firejet aerial target drones, and the Mighty Hornet IV.

XQ-58 Valkyrie | Kratos

A stealthy, runway-flexible, autonomous or AI-driven, high-performance-to-cost unmanned aerial vehicle with modular open mission systems architecture.

www.kratosdefense.com

Uncrewed Tactical Aircraft | Kratos

Drawing upon our deep understanding of high-performance subscale aerial targets, Kratos successfully designed, developed, and demonstrated the first purpose-built attritable unmanned aerial system (UAS). Kratos stands ready to deliver U.S. and Allied partners multiple operationally relevant and...

www.kratosdefense.com

 

[Kirkhill]

"Kratos Defense & Security Solutions said it has received approximately $400 million in new funding from the U.S. Department of War for hypersonic system work and other national security programmes. The company said the funding relates to selected programmes, but it did not provide further details because of security, competitive and other considerations."

U.S. Department of War provides about $400 million in funding to Kratos for hypersonic systems and national security programmes

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions said it has received approximately $400 million in new funding from the U.S.Department of War for hypersonic system work and other national security programmes.

defence-industry.eu

 

[Kirkhill]

I have been following Kratos with interest for a while now.

This latest contract is particularly interesting.

Kratos wins U.S. Army contract to replace aging Javelin missile seeker and sustain close-combat lethality through the next decade

Kratos has won a U.S. Army contract to develop a next-generation infrared seeker for the Javelin missile system.

defence-industry.eu

Fire and Forget is the definition of autonomy and the seeker is the ultimate expression of that capability.

Kratos now builds:

seekers,
low cost cruise missiles (Ragnarok)
Target Drones
Tactical Drones
Collaborative Combat Aircraft
Jet Engines
Solid Rocket Motors
Hypersonic Systems

All of this increases the range, speed of response, precision and autonomy of wepons while reducing both capital costs (lower production costs) and operating costs (less handling between factory and target).

 

[Kirkhill]

And then there is this

GBU-75 Order Moves JDAM Cruise Missile Variant Into Production | Aviation Week

The U.S. Navy has acquired a new cruise missile with a $75 million order for the Boeing GBU-75, a turbojet-powered version of the 500-lb. version of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), Boeing says.

aviationweek.com

Take one 500 lb Mk 82 unguided bomb
Add a JDAM and convert the Mk 82 into a GBU-38 with 15 nautical miles
Add wings and the Mk 82 flies 45 nautical miles
Add a Kratos TDI-J85 jet with 200 lb thrust and you have the GBU-75, a JDAM-LR, or a cruise missile with a range of more than 300 nautical miles.

And a low cost partial solution to the US lack of precision weapons.