Kratos Defense and Security Solutions has expertly positioned itself at the futuristic forefront of aerospace and defense technology, with its industry transforming array of unmanned vehicles and drone development. We learn more with President of the company’s Unmanned Systems Division, Steve Fendley.
READY FOR WHAT’S NEXT
The expansive North American aerospace and defense industry is currently experiencing continued transformation, propelled by game-changing advancements in digital technologies, strategic investments, and a renewed focus on both workforce development and supply chain visibility.
From securing new talent to unearthing supply chain opportunities, swathes of aerospace and defense companies are now working to integrate digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) into their businesses to address some of the industry’s most persistent problems.
Flourishing within this vast industry is Kratos Defense and Security Solutions (Kratos), a technology, products, and systems company addressing the defense, national security, and commercial markets worldwide.
Headquartered in San Diego, California, the company today specializes in internally funded R&D, capital, and other investments in order to rapidly advance, produce, and field solutions that address its customers’ mission-critical needs and tailored requirements.
At Kratos, affordability is viewed as a crucial aspect of technology, and the company seeks to utilize its proven combination of leading-edge approaches and innovative technology, which are expertly combined to reduce costs, time, and risk, enabling the company to be first to market with cost-effective solutions.
WITNESSING INCREDIBLE TRANSFORMATION
Since January 2017, Steven Fendley has served as President of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, which comprises six business units – Kratos Unmanned Aerial Systems, Micro Systems, Inc. (MSI), Technical Directions, Inc. (TDI), 5-D Systems, Sierra Technical Services (STS), and Kratos Australia.
“I always knew I wanted to be an engineer from a very young age. My dad was a Navy fighter pilot and later a test pilot for a defense contractor, and that really started my initial trajectory into the industry,” he recalls fondly.
“Right out of college, my first job was in the development of military drones and related technology, and that’s been my passion and focus for my whole career ever since,” Fendley adds.
Having witnessed an incredible transformation of the entire defense industry in the last couple of decades, Fendley believes the power that new technology possesses is virtually limitless and still holds the exciting promise of saving lives and making a substantial difference.
“When I first started working in this burgeoning field, I was lucky enough to be involved with a program that I was really passionate about, working on old F-4 fighter jets and converting them to being uncrewed systems,” Fendley shares.
These programs were extremely rare at the time in terms of operating aircraft from the ground with autonomous capabilities and without a human pilot on board.
However, in the last decade, such initiatives have skyrocketed in both quantity and scope as technology has continuously evolved.
“It’s such an exciting time to be involved in this work as I used to have to really hunt around for such opportunities, but now they’re everywhere,” he excites.
A GROWING PORTFOLIO
As a mid-tier contractor comprising around 4,000 members of staff, Kratos views itself as a technology company that truly specializes in defense.
“We believe that we’re now known as an innovative and disruptive agent of change in the industry, one that is an expert in designing products and systems,” Fendley tells us.
Kratos’ primary business areas include virtualized ground systems for satellites and space vehicles, such as command and control (C2) and telemetry software, tracking and control, jet-powered unmanned aerial drone systems, hypersonic vehicles, and rocket systems.
As well as this, the company is currently involved with a comprehensive array of propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, spacecraft, and launch systems, alongside its work on microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, satellite, counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS), directed energy, communication, and virtual augmented reality training systems for warfighters.
DRIVERLESS VEHICLE SOLUTIONS
Across the US, one of the major problems encountered at present for a multitude of industries is a severe shortage of drivers.
Kratos is responding to this challenge through its array of self-driving trucks deployed on the road across the US, supporting new deployment cases and territories.
The company’s self-driving truck solutions continue to act as industry game-changers by addressing issues that continue to burden the key transportation and supply chain activities of today.
“We are uniquely positioned as a developer of transformative systems, platforms, and products to adapt technology developed for military and defense applications into commercial markets,” details Fendley.
“Leveraging field-proven pilotless, driverless, communications, C2, and other advanced technologies developed across Kratos enables our commercial driverless truck deployments to be safe, adaptable, and reliable in harsh environments not previously considered by other self-driving truck companies.
“Plus, our focus is on areas where there is a driver shortage, so we’re not taking jobs away, we’re enabling key industries to process in spite of the nationwide driver shortage.”
Ensuring safety and business continuity are critical customer concerns for the company, and Kratos’ self-driving trucks are proving to be a viable solution for meeting these crucial goals.
FLIGHT OF THE VALKYRIE
The pride of the company’s portfolio, the Kratos XQ-58 Valkyrie is a stealthy, unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) originally designed and built by Kratos and demonstrated to the US Air Force through the Low-Cost Attritable Strike Demonstrator (LCASD) program, under the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Low-Cost Attritable Aircraft Technology (LCAAT) project portfolio.
“The LCAAT portfolio was established to break the escalating cost trajectory of tactically relevant aircraft and provide an affordable, lightweight solution as an unmanned escort or wingman aircraft alongside a crewed fighter aircraft in combat scenarios,” Fendley sets out.
“Representing a clean-sheet, low-cost tactical UAS, the XQ-58A is changing the paradigm for tactical UAS technology,” he adds.
Flying since 2019, the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie is a high-performance, survivable, tactical UCAV capable of long-range flights at high subsonic speeds and is currently in production in Oklahoma City.
The impressive aircraft can serve as a loyal wingman, conduct single UAS operations, or operate in swarms.
Combined with its affordability, survivability, long range, maneuverability, and ability to carry flexible mission kit configurations and a mix of lethal weapons from its internal bomb bay and wing stations, the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie provides extreme flexibility for the multiple Department of Defense customers that have acquired the vehicle under contract today.
“It is also a key technology to prove the effectiveness of autonomous electronic support to crewed platforms, as well as demonstrate the potential for AI-enabled platforms to augment combat air patrols while continuing to mature other manned-unmanned teaming capability objectives.”
Undoubtedly, the ability to be pre-deployed and operated remotely from a substantial distance, without requiring runway or airfield operations, makes it a critical deterrent for near-peer adversaries.
POSITIONED AT THE FOREFRONT
With the emergence of near-peer adversaries and the ever-increasing cost of tactical aircraft acquisition costs, the Kratos UAS business unit has been at the forefront of the development of reusable UAS for use in manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) operations in a contested environment.
In this way, Kratos UAS leverages its elite knowledge of high-performance subscale aerial targets to design, develop, and demonstrate the first purpose-built attritable UAS.
“We remain at the forefront of delivering a family of innovative, affordable, expeditionary, and high-performance tactical UAS,” Fendley prides.
Growth across this invigorating and future-facing industry is likely to continue on its current trajectory, with Kratos’ new advances in technology underlying each step.
KRATOS DEFENSE AND SECURITY SOLUTIONS PARTNER
