Kratos Completes Critical Design Review for Space Development Agency’s Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) System

Rhea-AI Summary

Kratos (Nasdaq: KTOS) completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the Space Development Agency’s Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) system on Feb. 26, 2026.

The CDR closed with zero liens, follows a Preliminary Design Review completed five months from contract award, and moves the $116.7 million AFCGI program into implementation on an accelerated schedule.

Positive

• $116.7 million prime contract award for AFCGI
• CDR completed with zero liens, enabling accelerated schedule
• CDR reached 8 months after Preliminary Design Review, showing rapid progress
• Prime contractor role covering systems engineering, integration, test, and operations

Negative

• None.

News Market Reaction – KTOS

+4.43%

33 alerts

+4.43% News Effect

-5.4% Trough in 16 hr 26 min

+$660M Valuation Impact

$15.56B Market Cap

0.2x Rel. Volume

On the day this news was published, KTOS gained 4.43%, reflecting a moderate positive market reaction. Argus tracked a trough of -5.4% from its starting point during tracking. Our momentum scanner triggered 33 alerts that day, indicating elevated trading interest and price volatility. This price movement added approximately $660M to the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $15.56B at that time.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Key Figures

AFCGI contract value: $116.7 million CDR timing: 8 months PDR timing from award: 5 months

3 metrics

AFCGI contract value $116.7 million Prime contract for Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure program (2024 award)

CDR timing 8 months Time from Preliminary Design Review to AFCGI Critical Design Review completion

PDR timing from award 5 months Time from AFCGI contract award to Preliminary Design Review completion

Market Reality Check

Price: $86.18 Vol: Volume 2,325,801 is below...

low vol

$86.18 Last Close

Volume Volume 2,325,801 is below the 20-day average of 3,495,036 (relative volume 0.67). low

Technical Price 88.23 is trading above the 200-day MA at 72.51, indicating a pre-news uptrend.

Peers on Argus

KTOS was down 2.7% pre-news, while key Aerospace & Defense peers like DRS (-3.33...

KTOS was down 2.7% pre-news, while key Aerospace & Defense peers like DRS (-3.33%), AVAV (-3.64%), HII (-3.6%), TXT (-2.87%) and ERJ (-0.54%) also traded lower, but no peers appeared in the momentum scanner, suggesting more stock-specific trading rather than a confirmed sector momentum event.

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Feb 25 (Positive)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Feb 25	Navy contract award	Positive	-2.7%	Navy contract modification for BQM-177A full-rate production Lot Seven.
Feb 23	Earnings results	Positive	-3.9%	Q4 and 2025 results with revenue growth and higher 2026 guidance.
Feb 23	Engine design award	Positive	-1.8%	U.S. Air Force contract to design GEK1500 engine with GE Aerospace.
Feb 20	SRM campus project	Positive	-9.1%	Groundbreaking for 600-acre solid rocket motor manufacturing campus.
Feb 18	Hypersonics contract	Positive	+5.7%	Award to support hypersonic thermal protection systems test and evaluation.

Pattern Detected

Recent contract and growth headlines have often been followed by negative next-day moves, with only the hypersonics award showing a positive reaction.

Recent Company History

Over the past weeks, Kratos has reported multiple wins and growth indicators, including a Navy BQM‑177A production award, strong Q4/2025 and full‑year results with increased 2026 guidance, a $12.4M engine design contract with GE Aerospace, hypersonic materials testing work, and investment in a 600‑acre solid rocket motor campus. Despite these constructive developments, most headlines saw negative next‑day price reactions, framing today’s AFCGI CDR milestone within a pattern of sell‑the‑news behavior.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement highlights Kratos’ rapid execution on the Space Development Agency’s AFCGI program...

Analysis

This announcement highlights Kratos’ rapid execution on the Space Development Agency’s AFCGI program, progressing from contract award through design reviews to CDR in about 13 months, including a $116.7 million prime contract. The zero‑lien CDR outcome signals resolved technical risks and supports transition into implementation. In context of recent contract wins and backlog growth, ongoing attention to program delivery, integration milestones, and capital needs remains important for assessing longer‑term impact.

Key Terms

critical design review, preliminary design review, government-owned, contractor-operator, ground resource manager

4 terms

critical design review technical

"has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the Space"

A critical design review (CDR) is a formal, high‑level assessment where engineers and independent reviewers confirm a product or system’s detailed plans meet required performance, safety and regulatory needs before committing to full-scale production or implementation. For investors it signals reduced technical and schedule risk—like approving a final blueprint before construction—so passing a CDR often increases confidence in a project’s timeline, budget predictability and likelihood of commercial success.

preliminary design review technical

"only eight months after the program’s Preliminary Design Review, which itself"

Preliminary design review is a formal assessment early in the development of a product, system, or project where engineers present initial designs to confirm they meet key requirements and can proceed to detailed work. For investors, it matters because passing this milestone reduces technical and schedule risk—like getting approval for a building’s blueprints before construction—making it more likely the project will stay on time and budget and improving prospects for future funding or revenue.

government-owned, contractor-operator technical

"management of a government-owned, contractor-operator (GOCO) demonstration environment"

An asset or service that is legally owned by a government but day-to-day run by a private company under a formal contract; the government remains the landlord while the contractor acts as the manager and operator. Investors care because revenues, costs, and risks depend on the contract’s length, payment structure, and performance rules—like a landlord hiring a business to run a store, where contract terms determine how reliably the operation will make money and how much political or regulatory risk remains.

ground resource manager technical

"A key element of the program is the development of a Ground Resource Manager"

A ground resource manager is the person or system that plans and coordinates physical assets and crews that operate on the ground—such as vehicles, equipment, maintenance teams, or site staff—to keep daily operations running smoothly and safely. For investors, effective ground resource management reduces delays, cuts operating costs, improves asset use and regulatory compliance, and lowers operational risk, much like a conductor who keeps all sections of an orchestra synchronized.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

Successfully integrated and validated systems across a complex, multi-partner ground architecture

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology company in Defense, National Security and Global Markets, has successfully completed the Critical Design Review (CDR) for the Space Development Agency’s Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) system. Kratos’ completion of the CDR with zero liens allows the program to continue an accelerated schedule and remain aligned with anticipated launch dates.

Kratos completed the AFCGI CDR only eight months after the program’s Preliminary Design Review, which itself was finished in just five months from contract award, underscoring the company’s ability to advance complex systems on a rapid timeline.

In 2024 Kratos was awarded a $116.7 million prime contract for the Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI) program. AFCGI integrates advanced software, resilient ground systems and secure networks into a unified, operational cloud architecture supporting real-time fire control missions. The system delivers immediate, mission-relevant advantages to the warfighter. Achieving zero liens at CDR confirms that key technical risks, design challenges and open items have been fully resolved, enabling the program to proceed into implementation without material constraints.

Greg Caicedo, Senior Vice President of Kratos Space, said, “Completing the critical design review ahead of schedule highlights Kratos’ ability to deliver advanced, software-driven systems faster than traditional development models, enabled by our OpenSpace ground architecture. Kratos continues to invest in scalable, resilient capabilities that keep pace with operational and strategic demands.”

Kratos serves as the prime contractor for the AFCGI program, overseeing a multi-partner team responsible for delivering and operating ground segment capabilities for SDA’s Advanced Fire Control space vehicle demonstration systems. This includes management of a government-owned, contractor-operator (GOCO) demonstration environment and a secure cloud infrastructure supporting mission software and partner integration. Kratos’ scope spans program execution, systems engineering, integration, test, and ongoing operations across the full ground architecture. A key element of the program is the development of a Ground Resource Manager (GRM) for the FOO Fighter demonstration program (Fire-control On Orbit-support-to-the-war Fighter), designed to provide a scalable foundation for future Advanced Fire Control capabilities that may be incorporated into SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.

About Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS) is a technology, products, system and software company addressing the defense, national security, and commercial markets. Kratos makes true internally funded research, development, capital and other investments, to rapidly develop, produce and field solutions that address our customers’ mission critical needs and requirements. At Kratos, affordability is a technology, and we seek to utilize proven, leading edge approaches and technology, not unproven bleeding edge approaches or technology, with Kratos’ approach designed to reduce cost, schedule and risk, enabling us to be first to market with cost effective solutions. We believe that Kratos is known as an innovative disruptive change agent in the industry, a company that is an expert in designing products and systems up front for successful rapid, large quantity, low-cost future manufacturing which is a value add competitive differentiator for our large traditional prime system integrator partners and also to our government and commercial customers. Kratos intends to pursue program and contract opportunities as the prime or lead contractor when we believe that our probability of win (PWin) is high and any investment required by Kratos is within our capital resource comfort level. We intend to partner and team with a large, traditional system integrator when our assessment of PWin is greater or required investment is beyond Kratos’ comfort level. Kratos’ primary business areas include virtualized ground systems for satellites and space vehicles including software for command & control (C2) and telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C), jet powered unmanned aerial drone systems, advanced vehicles and rocket systems, propulsion systems for drones, missiles, loitering munitions, supersonic systems, space craft and launch systems, C5ISR and microwave electronic products for missile, radar, missile defense, space, satellite, counter UAS, directed energy, communication and other systems, and virtual & augmented reality training systems for the warfighter. For more information, visit www.KratosDefense.com.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Kratos and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Kratos undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although Kratos believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Kratos in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Kratos for the year ended December 28, 2025, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Kratos.

Press Contact:
Claire Cantrell
claire.cantrell@kratosdefense.com

Investor Information:
877-934-4687
investor@kratosdefense.com

FAQ

What did Kratos (KTOS) announce about the AFCGI CDR on February 26, 2026?

Kratos announced successful completion of the AFCGI Critical Design Review with zero liens. According to the company, this clears key technical risks and lets the program proceed into implementation on an accelerated timeline.

How large is the AFCGI contract that Kratos (KTOS) is executing?

Kratos holds a $116.7 million prime contract for the AFCGI program. According to the company, the award covers development of cloud-based ground infrastructure, integration, and operations for SDA demonstrations.

What timeline milestones did Kratos (KTOS) report for AFCGI development?

Kratos reported the Preliminary Design Review finished five months from contract award and the CDR completed eight months after PDR. According to the company, those milestones reflect a rapid, accelerated schedule aligned with launch dates.

What does 'zero liens at CDR' mean for Kratos (KTOS) and the AFCGI program?

Zero liens at CDR means no unresolved technical or contractual holds remain that would block progress. According to the company, this confirms design challenges and open items were resolved, enabling implementation to proceed.

What capabilities will Kratos (KTOS) deliver as AFCGI prime contractor?

Kratos will deliver integrated software, resilient ground systems, secure cloud networks, and a Ground Resource Manager for FOO Fighter demonstrations. According to the company, scope includes integration, test, operations, and partner integration management.