Kratos Receives $51M Award for More BQM-177A Aerial Target Drones

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced that its unmanned aerial systems business has been awarded a $51 million modification to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract for the procurement of additional units of an advanced, high-subsonic, recoverable aerial target drone system.

The modification exercises an option to procure 65 BQM-177A Subsonic Aerial Target drones. The acquisition consists of 50 for the Navy, 8 for Saudi Arabia, and 7 for the Japanese government, Kratos said Tuesday.

In a statement, Kratos said that it will also be providing associated technical and administrative data in support of full-rate production of the target drone. The Naval Air Systems Command is the contracting activity, the San Diego-headquartered company added.

Steve Fendley, president of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, said the latest contract modification represents the third consecutive exercise of a full-rate production option. He added that Kratos remains focused on producing drone systems that support the established and forecasted needs of the Navy and its foreign allies.

The BQM-177A unmanned system is designed to fulfill the weapons-release training requirements of the Air Force and the Navy. Its primary mission is to emulate real-world enemy anti-ship cruise missiles. The aircraft can also be deployed to provide training for naval aviators in testing and evaluation of new weapon systems during air-to-air combat operations.

In November, Kratos Unmanned Systems Division received a $4.1 million contract award from an unnamed international customer for high performance, unmanned aerial target drone system aircraft and related services. Work on its latest contracts is being performed in secure locations, the company added.