Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. and its Composite Engineering Inc. subsidiary will provide unmanned aerial target systems to the U.S. Air Force under an $18.7 million deal. San Diego-based Kratos (Nasdaq: KTOS) announced the award Feb. 23.
Sacramento-based Composite Engineering will provide 21 production target aircraft plus the associated warranty. CEI’s military customer exercised an option for Lot 12 on a previously awarded contract for Lots 11-13.
The Air Force Subscale Aerial Targets are known as AFSAT for short.
CEI target systems are used as high-fidelity enemy threat surrogates. They simulate performance characteristics of certain threat aircraft and missiles. The United States and its allies use the targets for weapons testing and training.
Kratos’ MSI unit, based in Florida, will supply most of the high-performance avionics used in the unmanned targets.
The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. awarded the deal.