Jane Edwards
A Kratos Defense & Security Solutions division has opened an 8,800-square-foot facility in Oklahoma City to house engineering, production and administrative operations as the company anticipates an increased demand for target and tactical unmanned aerial systems.
The company said Friday the new facility unveiled by its unmanned systems division will accommodate the production of new tactical UAS and meet excess demand for target drones.
Kratos intends to move into a 75,000-square-foot facility in Oklahoma within six months to support initial manufacturing operations with plans to hire more than 350 employees in the state in the next few years.
Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ unmanned systems division, said there has been a substantial rise in orders for military target drones as the company’s clients replace their current fleets of UAS.
The launch of the new Oklahoma facility came three weeks after the company secured a $23 million contract to produce a jet-powered drone system for an undisclosed client and a month after it received a potential five-year, $93 million contract to deliver target drones to the U.S. Army.
Kratos said it will continue to manufacture target drones at its current facility in Sacramento, California, and expects production to continue to rise over the next two years.
