Kratos ARAV-B Ballistic Missile Target Successfully Utilized In Multinational Pacific Dragon 2026 Exercise
Photo: U.S. Navy https://www.navy.mil/Press-Office/News-Stories/display-news/Article/4575192/us-allies-partners-executed-pacific-dragon-2026-exercise/
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fbcb4b4c-7855-4d5e-a594-3a8e193cab9b
SAN DIEGO, Sept. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology company in defense, national security, and global markets, today announced the successful mission of its Aegis Readiness Assessment Vehicle Type B (ARAV-B) ballistic missile target from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The vehicle was fired on August 6 during Pacific Dragon 2026, a premier multinational ballistic missile defense (BMD) exercise led by the U.S. 3rd Fleet.
Photo: U.S. Navy https://www.dvidshub.net/image/9880612/arav-b-launch-during-pacific-dragon-2026
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e2c17ce8-d415-4f9b-95a6-a9f92ed3f8b7
The biennial exercise, which took place in the waters around the Hawaiian Islands from August 6-15, was designed to improve the ability of allied and partner forces to track and intercept ballistic missiles together. The multi-mission event combined coordinated missile defense operations with tactical data-link information sharing across forces from the United States, Australia, Chile, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Spain, in conjunction with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
Kratos’ ARAV-B is part of the broader ARAV family of configurable short- and medium-range ballistic missile targets that can accurately emulate diverse and evolving threats. The ARAV Type B is a two-stage, spin-stabilized target featuring Kratos’ commercial Oriole rocket motor as the upper stage. The ARAV-B has now flown 43 successful target missions supporting the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division, White Sands Detachment and the Missile Defense Agency. Kratos’ commercially developed Oriole rocket motor, along with the larger Zeus family of rockets and the Erinyes hypersonic testbed vehicle demonstrate Kratos’ continuing commitment to investing in technologies and capabilities to serve the warfighter today.
Dave Carter, President of the Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services (DRSS) Division, said, "Kratos is proud to support the U.S. 3rd Fleet and our allied partners in this critical demonstration of integrated air and missile defense capabilities. The successful launch of our ARAV-B target during Pacific Dragon 2026 highlights our team's ability to rapidly develop and field affordable, threat-representative systems. By providing highly reliable target solutions, we ensure that advanced combat systems, such as the Baseline 10 and AN/SPY-6 radar on the USS Jack H. Lucas, are tested against the most realistic and demanding scenarios possible."
The Kratos Ballistic Missile Defense target family includes multiple configurations beyond the Type B, such as the two-stage Type C vehicle and the three-stage Type TTO (Terrier-Terrier-Oriole). With their built-in modularity, these flight-proven Kratos systems can be rapidly reconfigured to support a range of missions including low-apogee, long duration hypersonic testing at speeds exceeding Mach 10.
Eric DeMarco, President and CEO of Kratos, said, "At Kratos, we are focused on delivering real, mission-relevant products and systems to our customers, not PowerPoints or concepts. We fundamentally believe that affordability is a technology, and we utilize our internal investments to bring national security relevant hardware to the field faster. By integrating existing assets and proven technologies, Kratos is first to market with cost-effective solutions that save our government customers and the U.S. taxpayer significant time and money. Our successful participation in Pacific Dragon 2026 is another testament to Kratos’ ability to execute on our strategy and deliver mission-critical solutions for global security."
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 and follow Kratos on LinkedIn and X.
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, 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 Relations:
877-934-4687
investor@kratosdefense.com
