Kratos to lease 'large drone manufacturing facility' for tactical drone effort

By Marjorie Censer / November 7, 2018 at 9:35 AM

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions said yesterday it will soon open another drone manufacturing facility to build a tactical drone program known as Thanatos.

“We are close to executing a lease on another large, new drone manufacturing facility, which will require custom buildout over the next several months for security-related reasons, related to a new tactical program we have recently been successful on,” Eric DeMarco, Kratos' chief executive, said during a call with analysts yesterday evening.

DeMarco said the program is known as Thanatos and will have a financial impact on the company beginning in 2020. “We are unable to provide any further details at this time,” he said.

Last week, Kratos formally opened a new tactical drone manufacturing facility in Oklahoma. DeMarco said at the time the first drone is planned to come off that line early next year.

Meanwhile, Kratos said yesterday sales in its most recent quarter hit $159 million, up 1 percent from the same three-month period a year earlier. The company recorded quarterly profit of $1.7 million, up from a loss of $4.3 million the prior year.

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