Kratos Expands Production of Spartan Engines to Support Growing Missile and Loitering Munition Demand
Rhea-AI Summary
Kratos (Nasdaq: KTOS) plans to significantly expand production of its U.S‑designed, U.S‑manufactured Spartan turbojet engines to meet rising missile and loitering munition demand. Capacity is being increased to 3,000 engines next year, backed by internally funded long-lead material purchases and strategic supply chain investments.
The fully domestic Spartan program aims to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base, support rebuilding missile inventories, and provide affordable, scalable propulsion for precision-strike and autonomous systems.
Positive
- Planned capacity increase to produce 3,000 Spartan engines next year
- Internally funded long-lead material procurement already underway
- Strategic supply chain investments to reduce future lead times
- Engines designed, manufactured, and supported entirely in the United States
- Supports missile, loitering munition, and autonomous system program demand
Negative
- None.
News Market Reaction – KTOS
In the Jun 9 session, KTOS declined 2.67%, reflecting a moderate negative market reaction.
Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.
Key Figures
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | 24h Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 08 | New test facility | Positive | +1.6% | Selected Odon, Indiana for new hypersonic test facility under Project Helios. |
| May 06 | Earnings & guidance | Positive | -7.3% | Reported Q1 2026 growth and raised FY26 revenue and EBITDA guidance. |
| Apr 27 | Earnings call notice | Neutral | +3.1% | Scheduled Q1 2026 earnings release and conference call details. |
| Apr 21 | Drone engine upgrade | Positive | -1.8% | Completed initial flights of J85-engine Firejet and outlined Spartan ramp plans. |
| Apr 08 | Major defense contract | Positive | +3.5% | Won up to $446.8M contract for missile warning and tracking GMI effort. |
24h Move is the share-price change in the day after each event; other market factors may also have contributed.
Recent KTOS news often reads positively, but price reactions have been mixed, with some significant sell-offs even on upbeat earnings and capability expansion headlines.
Over the last few months, Kratos announced several growth-focused developments, including a new hypersonic test facility in Odon, Indiana on May 8, 2026 and a $446.8M Space Systems Command contract on April 8, 2026. Q1 2026 results on May 6, 2026 showed strong revenue growth and raised FY26 guidance, yet the stock fell 7.35% the next day. A prior April 21 news item already highlighted expectations for Spartan engine production in the thousands, providing context for today’s further capacity expansion.
Key Terms
loitering munition technical
turbojet engines technical
autonomous system programs technical
AI-generated analysis. How Rhea-AI works. Not financial advice.
U.S.-Designed, U.S.-Manufactured Propulsion Systems Deliver Industry-Leading Performance at Affordable Cost
SAN DIEGO, June 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology, products, system and software company in defense, national security, and global markets, today announced plans to significantly increase production capacity for its Spartan line of turbojet engines to support growing demand across missile and loitering munition programs.
The Spartan line of engines delivers military-grade performance while maintaining the affordability and production scalability required to support today's evolving national security environment. Designed to provide exceptional thrust, reliability, and operational capability at commercial prices, Spartan engines are currently supporting multiple customers and platforms across the defense sector.
Spartan Engines
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/65e6f9d6-345d-4b77-a701-51511f942d7a
To meet increasing demand, Kratos is expanding production to produce 3,000 engines next year. To accelerate delivery timelines and support customer requirements, the company has already initiated internally funded long-lead material procurement and strategic supply chain investments, ensuring production readiness and minimizing future lead times.
“As the Department of War focuses on rebuilding critical missile inventories and increasing affordable precision-strike capacity, the need for scalable, high-performance but low-cost propulsion systems has never been greater,” said Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division. “Kratos is investing today to ensure our customers have access to affordable, reliable, American-made propulsion systems that can be delivered at the speed and scale required by the modern threat environment.”
The Spartan family of engines is designed, manufactured, and supported entirely in the United States, utilizing a domestic supply chain that strengthens the U.S. defense industrial base while reducing reliance on foreign sources for critical propulsion technologies.
Kratos' investments directly support Department of War priorities to replenish missile inventories, expand production capacity for precision-strike weapons, and deliver affordable mass across the Joint Force. The company's proactive investments in manufacturing capacity and supply chain readiness position Kratos to rapidly support emerging requirements while helping strengthen America's long-term defense production capabilities.
With growing demand across missile, loitering munition, and autonomous system programs, Kratos' expanding Spartan engine production capability reinforces the company's commitment to delivering affordable, mission-ready propulsion solutions that support U.S. and allied national security objectives.
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, hypersonic 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
