Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc., a technology company serving the defence, national security and global markets, has announced that it has been awarded a sole-source, single-award Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at approximately $156 million by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Secure Transportation (OST) in support of Project Solar Shield.
Under the new contract, Kratos will provide mobile Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) platforms to support OST’s critical national security mission. The Office of Secure Transportation is responsible for the safe and secure ground and air transportation of nuclear weapons, weapon components and special nuclear materials, along with other missions supporting U.S. national security.
To address emerging threats to these operations, OST requires a mission-ready mobile platform capable of detecting, tracking, identifying and responding to potentially hostile unmanned aircraft systems in real time. Unlike traditional fixed-site defence infrastructure, Project Solar Shield is designed to provide a dynamic mobile C-UAS capability that can support mission requirements wherever OST operations occur. The programme will leverage commercial and government best-in-class C-UAS technologies to provide a layered defence posture supporting OST personnel and mission requirements.
Kratos was selected following a technical evaluation and was identified as the provider capable of meeting OST’s technical, cost, schedule, operational, safety, redundancy, integration and long-term sustainment requirements. Kratos’ engineer-to-order approach combines C-UAS systems, mobile platform design, command-and-control and advanced power management technologies into a fully integrated solution designed for demanding threat and mission environments.
“Project Solar Shield represents a significant milestone for Kratos and the broader government C-UAS market,” said Dave Carter, President of Kratos’ Defense & Rocket Support Services Division. “As the first large scale government production contract of its kind built around this integrated approach, the program demonstrates the value of combining C-UAS, mobile platform design, command-and-control capabilities, and resilient power management into a single mission-ready solution. The resulting platform provides OST with a highly modular and scalable mobile C-UAS capability, designed to support evolving mission requirements across the continental United States.”
Eric DeMarco, President and CEO of Kratos, said, “We believe that Kratos’ technology, system and integration capabilities in the C-UAS mission area are industry leading, and also our ability to mass produce large quantities of relevant systems at an affordable cost. Our entire organization is proud to have received this program award to protect and secure critical United States assets and infrastructure.”
Work under the new programme award will be performed at secure Kratos facilities. Due to security-related and other considerations, no additional information will be provided regarding the contract award. Work under the contract is expected to begin immediately.
