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Kratos builds equipment and provides services for military and national-security programs, alongside commercial work. Most revenue comes from Kratos Government Solutions, which supplies technologies such as defense electronics, propulsion and ground systems that communicate with and control satellites. Its smaller Unmanned Systems business makes unmanned vehicles, including BQM-167 and BQM-177 jet target drones sold to military customers. Product sales contribute more revenue than services.
The U.S. Government is the ultimate customer for most revenue, whether Kratos contracts directly with an agency or supplies another defense contractor. Allied governments and commercial customers also pay it. Most sales come through multiyear contracts, and fixed-price production work is the main source of revenue. Under those contracts, Kratos must deliver for an agreed price and absorb costs above it; other contracts reimburse costs plus a fee or pay for labor and materials.
The business depends on government program awards and continued funding. Even multiyear programs often need annual appropriations, and the government can suspend or terminate work. Classified contracts require facility and personnel security clearances, while sales outside the United States require U.S. Government licenses and authorizations.
The risk section is the longest, dullest part of the filing. This keeps only what can really hurt you: where it hits, how hard, when it plays out.
Every company claims an edge. Each one is checked against hard numbers like margins and returns: which hold, and which line gives way first.
Kratos’s drone business depends on military adoption and production awards for affordable unmanned systems, with privately held Anduril and General Atomics also worth watching as rivals.
AeroVironment competes with Kratos to sell military unmanned systems and space and cyber technologies to U.S. and allied defense customers. Watch its Autonomous Systems and Space, Cyber and Directed Energy businesses for how those customers are buying.
Mercury Systems competes with Kratos for military and major defense contractors’ spending on defense electronics and subsystems. Its sales of signal-processing and computing products are the relevant comparison for Kratos’s electronics business.
Karman Holdings and Kratos both benefit from spending on hypersonic weapons, missiles and missile defense: Karman sells integrated missile structures and propulsion systems mainly to prime contractors, while Kratos develops rocket, propulsion and hypersonic systems. Watch Karman’s Hypersonics & Strategic Missile Defense revenue alongside the hypersonic business driving Kratos’s Defense Rocket Support growth.
L3Harris competes with Kratos to supply defense customers with satellite communications, defense electronics and defense propulsion systems.
Northrop Grumman competes with Kratos for national-security customers’ military aerospace, defense electronics and space-system work. Its development, production and support contracts with U.S. military and intelligence customers are the business to watch for this overlap.
Lockheed Martin competes with Kratos for U.S. and allied government programs in military aircraft, missiles, space and mission systems. Its corresponding business segments offer a more relevant comparison than its company-wide results.
Leonardo DRS competes with Kratos to sell defense electronics, computing and integrated mission systems to U.S. and allied militaries. Its sensing and network-computing business is a concrete comparison for the electronics side of Kratos.
GE Aerospace is both a Kratos customer and its partner in developing low-cost expendable turbofan engines for unmanned aircraft. Watch GEK800 and GEK1500 progress: the partners reported successful GEK800 altitude testing in October 2025 and began work on GEK1500.
Viasat competes with Kratos for satellite communications equipment and secure military communications purchases. Its government satellite communications and defense technologies are the relevant businesses to watch, rather than residential broadband.
Redwire’s Edge Autonomy business and Kratos both sell unmanned aircraft to military customers, but their aircraft serve different missions and size categories, limiting the direct comparison.
RTX’s Raytheon and Collins businesses compete with Kratos to supply defense systems, satellite communications and defense and space turbomachinery to military and government customers. Those businesses, rather than RTX’s commercial-aircraft engine servicing, are the relevant comparison.
Elbit Systems competes with Kratos for defense customers’ unmanned aircraft, command and intelligence systems, electronic warfare and training purchases. Its unmanned aerial solutions and training and simulation business provide a concrete comparison for Kratos’s drone and training offerings.
Curtiss-Wright overlaps with Kratos in defense electronics sales and competes in defense and space turbomachinery, serving aerospace and defense customers. Its Defense Electronics segment is the clearest revenue line to compare with Kratos’s electronics operations.
General Dynamics’ Mission Systems and defense technology businesses compete with Kratos to supply military communications and mission systems. Watch those activities within its Technologies segment, rather than its business jets or shipbuilding.
Comtech Telecommunications competes with Kratos to sell satellite ground communications equipment to government, defense and commercial customers. Its Satellite and Space Communications business, including modems and amplifiers, is the relevant comparison—not its emergency-call systems.
Gilat directly competes with Kratos to sell satellite network equipment to operators, system integrators and government customers. Its product sales, including network construction, are the revenue line most closely tied to that competition.
Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. earningsThis company
Kratos sells mostly products in its Unmanned Systems business, and this report will show whether drone growth is translating into better margins.
Read Unmanned Systems revenue alongside the segment’s margin. Rising revenue with a steady or improving margin would show expansion keeping pace with labor and material costs. Rising revenue but a falling margin would mean costs on fixed-price contracts are outpacing what Kratos can recover, so growth is not yet producing better profits.
Karman Holdings Inc. earningsKRMN
Karman Holdings sells missile structures and propulsion systems mainly to prime contractors, so its hypersonics and strategic missile defense business signals demand in markets tied to Kratos’s rocket and hypersonic work.
Watch revenue in Karman’s Hypersonics & Strategic Missile Defense business. Growth would suggest stronger demand for related prime-contractor programs, a more supportive market for Kratos’s rocket and hypersonic work; a decline would point to cooling demand. Karman’s sales to primes are not Kratos orders, so this is a market signal, not a result for Kratos.
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd earningsGILT
Gilat and Kratos both sell satellite network equipment to operators, system integrators and government customers, so Gilat’s report shows how those shared buyers are spending.
Watch Gilat’s product sales, especially network-construction revenue if it is reported separately. Growth would show firmer equipment purchases by satellite operators, system integrators and government customers, supporting demand in a market Kratos also serves; falling sales would signal weaker buying. Gilat’s results do not prove Kratos’s sales moved in step.
Mercury Systems Inc. earningsMRCY
Mercury Systems competes with Kratos for defense-electronics spending, and its signal-processing and computing sales show how that shared market is moving.
Read Mercury Systems’ signal-processing and computing sales alongside its margin. Rising sales with a steady margin would point to stronger defense-electronics buying without obvious deterioration in Mercury’s economics; falling sales would suggest weaker demand in the market Kratos also serves. This is a read on Kratos’s competitive environment, not its own sales or profit.
AeroVironment, Inc. earningsAVAV
AeroVironment’s Autonomous Systems business competes with Kratos for military unmanned-systems spending, so its report will show how active those customers are and how strong the competition may be.
Focus on sales and orders in AeroVironment’s Autonomous Systems business, not its space or cyber activities. Growth in both would show continued military buying of unmanned systems: demand is active for Kratos too, but competition for awards is stronger. Weakness in both would point to cooling demand. The companies’ aircraft and missions differ, so this is not a direct proxy for Kratos’s sales.
