Kratos Celebrates 25 Years of Unparalleled Success with Oriole Solid Rocket Motor

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTOS), a technology company in defense, national security, and global markets, proudly commemorates 25 years since the first flight of its commercially developed Oriole solid rocket motor, celebrating Oriole’s stellar record of success supporting scientific and Department of Defense testing. Since its inception in 1999, the Oriole has achieved a flawless 100 percent success rate across 80 missions, cementing its legacy as a cornerstone of Kratos' innovation and excellence initiatives.

First launched from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in 2000, the Oriole rocket motor has proven its versatility and reliability time and time again. Designed with high ballistic and thermo-structural margins, the Oriole provides robust performance for a variety of multi-stage rocket configurations and has seamlessly served as both a second and third stage for nine different launch vehicle configurations on more than 60 separate flights. Manufactured to Kratos specifications by Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation at the Alleghany Ballistics Laboratory in Rocket Center, West Virginia, production of the Oriole rocket motor has now exceeded 100 units, with more currently in production.

In 2005, Oriole was selected as the principal stage for the Aegis Readiness Assessment Vehicle Type B (ARAV B) ballistic missile target by the Navy and has since successfully completed over 40 threat-representative ballistic missile target missions for tracking and engagement by U.S. Navy and allied vessels using Standard Missile 3 and Standard Missile 6 interceptors. Additionally, during that time, the Oriole has been a key component of NASA's venerable sounding rocket program, driving forward a wide range of science research initiatives.

Oriole's journey of success is further highlighted by Kratos' successful development of a complementary Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system in 2012. The system, which allows the Oriole to meet more exacting trajectory requirements, has now completed four highly successful missions, delivering Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) targets to very precise locations with pinpoint accuracy. Another of Oriole’s key attributes is its compatibility across a diverse set of existing launch range infrastructures, having successfully deployed to and performed launches from locations worldwide, including Kwajalein Atoll, Wake Island, Pacific Missile Range Facility (Kauai), Poker Flat Research Range, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Hebrides Range in Scotland, Andoya Research Range in Norway, and Biscarrosse Range in France.

The Oriole has perennially been a key element paving the way for Kratos' expanding role in hypersonic flight testing. When combined with tandem Terrier MK-70 kick stages, the Oriole offers an exceptionally reliable, high-speed boost delivery platform for hypersonic research. To date, the Kratos Oriole has successfully delivered 10 highly complex hypersonic tests, solidifying its position as the United States’ premier flight test rocket and laying the foundation for Kratos' other suborbital launch work, which has culminated in over 140 successful missions to date. When fitted with Kratos’ proven Erinyes hypersonic test bed flyer, the tandem MK-70 Oriole boost stack can propel hypersonic experiments to relevant in-flight test environments up to Mach 9 for more than four minutes.

Through its lofty achievements, Oriole provided Kratos with the inspiration for development of the new, larger Zeus rocket motors, which now represent the next frontier in rocket innovation and ultra high-performance flight testing. To meet the urgent demands for BMD targets, hypersonic test flights, and scientific research, Kratos is moving forward aggressively with production of Zeus and Oriole motors having recently negotiated a contract for 60 Oriole motors with deliveries expected over the next three years.

Eric Demarco, President and CEO of Kratos, said, “Kratos’ Oriole SRM is a gold standard in reliable, affordable, relevant national security related launch systems for the United States and its allies. Kratos rapidly delivers actual, relevant products to our customers, not pictures, renditions, never ending tests, and PowerPoints, with Oriole’s 25 years of mission success representative of the technology leading systems Kratos delivers. Kratos’ rocket and hypersonic system team is a true national treasure, and I expect that Kratos’ rocket systems and hypersonics business will be a future-year multi-billion-dollar franchise for Kratos.”