Kratos Sre, Inc.

Kratos Sre, Inc., operating under the Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services Division and doing business as TLA Associates, is a subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Rocket Support Services, Inc. that delivers advanced materials testing, characterization, and specialized manufacturing services to federal agencies as a prime contractor (82% of recent awards) and occasional subcontractor. The company competes on an open, full-and-open basis across all federal work — no set-asides apply to its prime footprint.

Kratos Sre's core capability portfolio centers on ultra-high temperature materials testing (thermal and mechanical testing up to 6,000 Fahrenheit), thermal protection system characterization, and advanced materials development for aerospace and defense applications. Representative prime work includes a $68.7 million Other Transaction Agreement awarded by the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command on September 25, 2025, for design and construction of a 20 megawatt mid-tier arc jet facility prototype under the Cornerstone Other Transaction Authority Strengthening America's Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base initiative, running through September 2030 at the company's San Diego facility. A $41.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee definitive contract from Naval Strategic Systems Programs (July 2023, completing June 2028) covers femtosecond laser machine patterning and etching, HDR testing and measurement, and 16-kilowatt LDF diode laser system modifications for advanced materials testing, with Precision Microfab LLC, Surface Optics Corporation, Laserline Inc., and Bluehalo LLC as named subcontractors. A $7.5 million single-award BPA from Naval Sea Systems Command (May 2025, completing May 2030) provides ultra-high temperature alloy testing services across multiple task orders, with recent calls valued at $293,578, $540,823, $402,339, and $636,641 issued in 2025. Kratos also holds a $4.83 million single-award indefinite delivery contract with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (awarded July 2025, through June 2030) for testing and analysis of propulsion and space system materials, supporting lunar and planetary exploration initiatives including the Moon-to-Mars Planetary Autonomous Construction Technology program.

Customer concentration is split between civilian space and defense agencies. The top five customers by award count account for 46% of awards: the Defense Contract Management Agency (28 awards, $45.5 million), NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (14 awards, $18.9 million), Naval Sea Systems Command (7 awards, $43.6 million), GSA Federal Acquisition Service (6 awards, $19.3 million), and NASA Ames Research Center (6 awards, $11.5 million). When ranked by potential value, concentration shifts sharply: the Air Force Lifecycle Management Center's Anti-Tamper IDIQ dominates the portfolio at $499 million in combined potential value across 2 awards (the Anti-Tamper IDIQ multiple-award vehicle itself and a $1,000 white-paper delivery order), followed by DCMA, Naval Sea Systems Command, GSA, and Marshall. The Air Force vehicle represents 56% of the vendor's combined potential value across all awards; without it, the customer base would show more even distribution.

Kratos Sre places the majority of work under the Federal Supply Schedule GS35F0553L (52 task orders, $92.1 million), followed by several NASA and Navy indefinite-delivery vehicles: IDC S5105A04A0005 (16 task orders, $5.1 million), IDC 80MSFC20D0003 (8 task orders, $3.9 million), N0014004D0011 (6 task orders), and BPA 80ARC023AA001 at NASA Ames (5 task orders, $4.5 million). The company also holds the Air Force Anti-Tamper IDIQ multi-award vehicle under AFLCMC Wright Patterson.

Activity has grown modestly year over year — five awards in 2021, rising to eighteen in 2025 — with seven awards totaling $45.9 million in combined potential value reaching ultimate completion inside the next twenty-four months, representing recompete exposure. The vendor operates predominantly as a prime builder of its own delivery teams; across SCI-reportable prime service contracts, subcontractors accounted for an average of 9% of total contractor hours, with only two named subcontractors reported in the SCI dataset. In its less-frequent subcontractor role, Kratos Sre delivers specialized materials testing and engineering support to Lockheed Martin (MK21A re-entry vehicle nosetip instrumentation and development across multiple awards), Battelle Memorial Institute (carbon-carbon composite characterization under the MOC3HA program), Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (STABLE architecture engineering services), Raytheon Company (High Enthalpy Aperture Technology program testing), Modern Technology Solutions Inc. (ballistic missile and reentry vehicle intelligence analysis under NASIC support), and Valkyrie Enterprises LLC (research and development work via MIT Lincoln Laboratory subcontracts).

SCI-reported invoicing totaled $3.3 million across FY2023–FY2024 (FY2023: $1.2 million, FY2024: $2 million), with government-paid hourly rates on federal services contracts ranging from a 10th percentile of $60.61 per hour through a median of $134.53 per hour to a 90th percentile of $245.86 per hour, reflecting a portfolio mix of lower-cost materials testing labor and higher-skill technical and engineering support. SCI headcount hovered around 6 FTEs delivered to the federal government in both years (5.8 in FY2023, 6.5 in FY2024), indicating a lean operational footprint for service delivery on these contracts; the company's core capabilities in materials testing and manufacturing are delivered through capital-intensive facility operations rather than labor-heavy service engagements. The source documents no federal grant work.