DoD’s Innovation Org Taps Kratos to Integrate Sensors With UAS; Jerry Beaman Comments

A Defense Department organization has awarded Kratos Defense and Security Solutions a potential $12.6 million contract to integrate sensors with an unmanned combat aircraft system.

The contract with Defense Innovation Unit Experimental would also require Kratos to demonstrate how the company’s UTAP-22 drone can perform autonomous and semi-autonomous tasks in support of fourth- and fifth-generation fighter jets, the company said Monday.

Jerry Beaman, president of the unmanned systems division at Kratos, said the incorporation of sensors into UTAP-22 seeks to increase the operational use of the drone “in a large, complex exercise.”

The UTAP-22 drone is designed for use in tactical missions and payload delivery and has been demonstrated in collaborative aerial operations with an AV-8B Harrier fighter aircraft.

DoD established DIUx in 2015 to help explore defense technology platforms and expand partnerships with private sector innovators.