Kratos Moves to New Engine Manufacturing Facility in Auburn Hills, MI to Support Demand for High-Rate Production of Spartan Engines

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 13, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a leading technology company in the defense, national security, and global markets, today announced the opening of a new Propulsion Manufacturing Facility in Auburn Hills, Michigan to fulfill upcoming demand for Kratos’ Spartan engines, a family of high-quality, low-cost, military grade turbojet engines, a key enabler in the affordable mass problem set.

This state-of-the-art 22,500-square-foot facility with office, manufacturing, assembly and test areas allows for concurrent production of all four engines in the Spartan family and quantities of 50,000 plus per year. The Spartan line of engines consists of four propulsion systems ranging in thrust from 30 to over 200 lb_f.

Kratos’ investment in the new facility demonstrates our commitment to advancing affordable mass inventory levels, producing a large number of military-grade, affordable turbojet engines while expanding crucial infrastructure needed to accelerate propulsion system inventory levels as a part of the US defense industrial base.

To support concurrent production and test of the multiple engine types, Kratos has configured the new facility and optimized inventory systems, production flow, and manufacturing ramp plans to enable isolation of key elements such as inventory while enabling shared use for incoming and outgoing inspection, as well as the multi-station test cell.

Kratos’ Auburn Hills Engine Manufacturing, Assembly, and Test Facility

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/af43edc0-2304-476e-809c-eac585d86062

With an investment in infrastructure, personnel, and equipment, Kratos’ Auburn Hills facility is designed for rapid, affordable manufacturing of low-cost turbojet engines to significantly boost critical inventory levels.

Image of Kratos’ fully attenuated engine test cell that supports running engine tests for acceptance, and full system, missile, aircraft body, analysis, verification, and validation.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5fddf1fb-5ac0-4d82-990d-1ac0564c92ae

Steve Fendley, President of Kratos Unmanned Systems Division, said, “Achieving affordable mass requires effective planning and management at all levels—from supply chain to military customer delivery aligned and optimized for cost, capacity, and resilience. Our production-first mindset has been key to our success in realizing high-reliability, military-grade engines with key operational features that can be produced affordably and delivered at high rates. This is a result of our focus on producibility and cost right from the start, rather than the traditional performance first, manufacturability and cost second approach.”

For more information on Kratos and the Spartan Line of Engines, visit www.kratosdefense.com.
###

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 29, 2024, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Kratos.

Press Contact:
Claire Cantrell
[email protected]

Investor Information:
877-934-4687
[email protected]