Kratos Defense and Security Solutions Inc (KTOS) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to Kratos Defense and Security Solutions' fourth-quarter 2023 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的耐心等待，並歡迎參加 Kratos 防禦和安全解決方案的 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would now like to hand the call over to VP and General Counsel of Marie Mendoza. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉交給瑪麗·門多薩 (Marie Mendoza) 的副總裁兼總法律顧問。請繼續。

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for the Kratos Defense & Security Solutions fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 conference call. With me today is Eric DeMarco, Kratos's President and Chief Executive Officer; and Deanna Lund, Kratos's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝。大家下午好。感謝您參加我們的 Kratos 防禦與安全解決方案第四季和 2023 年全年電話會議。今天與我在一起的是 Kratos 總裁兼執行長 Eric DeMarco；以及 Kratos 執行副總裁兼財務長 Deanna Lund。

Before we begin the substance of today's call, I'd like everyone to please take note of the Safe Harbor paragraph that is included at the end of today's press release. This paragraph emphasizes the major uncertainties and risks inherent in the forward-looking statements we will make this afternoon. Please keep these uncertainties and risks in mind as we discuss future strategic initiatives, potential market opportunities, operational outlook, financial guidance, and other forward-looking statements during today's call.

在我們開始今天電話會議的實質內容之前，我希望大家注意今天新聞稿末尾的安全港段落。本段強調了我們今天下午將要做出的前瞻性陳述所固有的主要不確定性和風險。當我們在今天的電話會議上討論未來的策略舉措、潛在的市場機會、營運前景、財務指導和其他前瞻性陳述時，請牢記這些不確定性和風險。

Today's call will also include a discussion of non-GAAP financial measures as that term is defined in Regulation G. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from or as a substitute for financial information presented in compliance with GAAP. Accordingly, at the end of today's press release, we have provided a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the company's financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP.

今天的電話會議還將討論 G 條例中定義的非 GAAP 財務指標。非 GAAP 財務指標不應被視為獨立於或取代根據 GAAP 提供的財務資訊。因此，在今天的新聞稿結尾，我們提供了這些非公認會計原則財務指標與根據公認會計原則編制的公司財務表現的調節表。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Eric DeMarco.

現在，我將把電話轉給埃里克·德馬科。

Thank you, Maria, and good afternoon, everybody. In 2023, Kratos achieved each of the goals we laid out at the beginning of the year, including 10% organic revenue growth, increased EBITDA with positive cash flow generation, while also making significant internally funded investments and potential transformational growth areas for our company.

謝謝瑪麗亞，大家下午好。2023 年，Kratos 實現了我們年初制定的每項目標，包括10% 的有機收入成長、透過產生正現金流來增加EBITDA，同時也為我們公司進行了大量的內部融資投資和潛在的轉型成長領域。

Expected growth areas include high-performance jet drone systems, hypersonic rocket motors and systems, next-generation jet engines for drones, missiles, and loitering munitions, and open space software for virtual live satellite C2 and TT&C. Kratos's product systems and software, which we envision, design, and engineer from the outset to be produced in large quantities at a low-cost or a value-added differentiator for our customers, and also importantly, for our prime system integrator partners and teammates.

預期成長領域包括高性能噴射無人機系統、高超音速火箭發動機和系統、用於無人機、飛彈和徘徊彈藥的下一代噴射發動機，以及用於虛擬直播衛星 C2 和 TT&C 的開放空間軟體。Kratos 的產品系統和軟體，我們從一開始就設想、設計和設計，以低成本或增值的方式大批量生產，為我們的客戶提供差異化優勢，更重要的是，為我們的主要係統整合商合作夥伴和隊友提供差異化優勢。

Kratos's relationships with the prime system integrators, including our being able to rapidly provide relevant, low-cost, differentiated and value-enhancing products, hardware, and systems, is a key element of Kratos's strategy, and its core to our company's success.

Kratos 與主要係統整合商的關係，包括我們能夠快速提供相關、低成本、差異化和增值的產品、硬體和系統，是 Kratos 策略的關鍵要素，也是我們公司成功的核心。

At Kratos, we believe that it's better to have a big part of something instead of all of nothing. And based on the program's requirements, including schedule, the potential size of Kratos's investment required, the technical development and financial risk to Kratos, and also expected customer preferences, we may team with one or more of our prime partners on certain program opportunities instead of Kratos priming ourselves. We believe this teaming or partnership approach has been very successful, including recently on a high-profile program.

在奎托斯，我們相信擁有某物的大部分比什麼都沒有更好。根據計劃的要求，包括時間表、Kratos 所需投資的潛在規模、Kratos 的技術開發和財務風險以及預期的客戶偏好，我們可能會與一個或多個主要合作夥伴就某些計劃機會進行合作，而不是奎托斯給我們自己打底。我們相信這種團隊合作或夥伴關係方法非常成功，包括最近在一個備受矚目的專案中。

On last quarter's conference call, I mentioned that we were expending significant effort including bid proposal, NRE, and other costs in pursuit of certain large opportunities. As an update, we have successfully received potentially the most important of these contracts on Kratos's unmanned systems business with the prime partner.

在上個季度的電話會議上，我提到我們正在付出巨大的努力，包括投標建議、NRE 和其他成本，以追求某些大型機會。作為更新，我們已經成功地與主要合作夥伴簽訂了有關 Kratos 無人系統業務的可能最重要的合約。

On a second opportunity, a different Kratos prime partner was awarded a new missile defense system-related satellite constellation program, where Kratos is responsible for the ground system. Thirdly, we have been informed that Kratos Turbine Technologies proposal was accepted and we are now waiting for our customer to receive funding, hopefully in Q3.

在第二次機會中，奎托斯的另一位主要合作夥伴獲得了與飛彈防禦系統相關的新衛星星座計劃，奎托斯負責地面系統。第三，我們獲悉 Kratos Turbine Technologies 的提案已被接受，我們現在正在等待我們的客戶收到資金，希望在第三季。

And finally, Kratos made the decision to pass on an opportunity as a prime due to the size of the Kratos's internal investment required, the financial risks to Kratos on this development program, and our assessment of an unacceptable probability of Kratos win. There are several additional notable opportunities that Kratos is currently assessing or in pursuit of, including where we are making significant investments, which hopefully we will be able to update you in the future.

最後，由於奎托斯所需的內部投資規模、奎托斯在該開發計劃上面臨的財務風險以及我們對奎托斯獲勝機率的評估，奎托斯做出了放棄作為總理的機會的決定。Kratos 目前正在評估或尋求一些其他值得注意的機會，包括我們正在進行重大投資的機會，希望我們能夠在未來向您通報最新情況。

As we begin 2024, we are under contract on numerous programs of record either as prime or partnered. These include new programs currently in development, programs transitioning to low-rate initial production programs that are [L-rep] and transitioning to full rate production and programs that are in full-rate production already where we expect increased future production quantities.

2024 年伊始，我們就許多有記錄的項目簽訂了合同，無論是主要項目還是合作項目。其中包括目前正在開發的新項目、過渡到低速初始生產項目（[L-rep]）和過渡到全速生產的項目以及已經在全速生產的項目，我們預計未來的產量將會增加。

Additionally, Kratos's opportunity pipeline is approximately $11 billion and our backlog is $1.2 billion, all providing us confidence in our 2024 financial forecast. Additional recent Kratos achievements include a $579 million prime single award Space Force satellite communication system-related contract, which we were able to announce today. The Space Force contract covers the command and control consolidation system used for SATCOM telemetry tracking, command, sustainment, and resiliency.

此外，Kratos 的機會管道約為 110 億美元，我們的積壓訂單為 12 億美元，所有這些都讓我們對 2024 年的財務預測充滿信心。Kratos 最近的其他成就包括我們今天宣布的價值 5.79 億美元的太空部隊衛星通訊系統相關主要單項合約。太空部隊合約涵蓋用於衛星通訊遙測追蹤、指揮、保障和彈性的指揮和控制整合系統。

The receipt of this award, which was Kratos's only large outstanding re-compete, provides Kratos both future visibility and an opportunity for growth as reflected by the significant contract ceiling value increase of approximately 50% over the previous contract vehicle as the number of satellites in orbit has and is expected to continue to increase, contributing to the overall expected increase in this contract scope.

該合約的獲得是 Kratos 唯一一次大型的傑出再競爭，為 Kratos 提供了未來的可見性和增長機會，這體現在合約上限價值比之前的合約車輛增加了約 50%，因為衛星數量增加了。Orbit已經並且預計將繼續增加，從而為本合約範圍的總體預期增加做出貢獻。

It was reported that Kratos and Boeing have executed a memorandum of understanding for Kratos's TDI-J85 jet engines to be the propulsion provider for the Boeing-powered Joint Direct Attack munition. It is anticipated that the powered JDAM will provide air-launched low-cost standoff capability against land and maritime threats.

據報道，克雷托斯和波音公司已簽署一份諒解備忘錄，克雷托斯的TDI-J85噴射發動機將成為波音動力聯合直接攻擊彈藥的推進裝置。預計動力 JDAM 將提供針對陸地和海上威脅的空射低成本防區外能力。

We received an approximate $23 million prime contract from the United States Marine Corps related to Kratos Valkyrie tactical drone, and we received significant contract awards related to the Iron Dome and the Patriot Air Defense Systems.

我們從美國海軍陸戰隊獲得了一份與 Kratos Valkyrie 戰術無人機相關的約 2300 萬美元的主要合同，並且我們還獲得了與鐵穹和愛國者防空系統相關的重要合同。

It was also reported that Kratos's Terrier Oriole two-stage rocket system was the propulsion system for the V-MAX hypersonic system launch. And it was reported that recent testing of a sophisticated AI software aboard an XQ-58 Valkyrie drone will influence how the US Air Force develops and deploys autonomous technologies.

另據報導，奎托斯的梗黃鷂兩級火箭系統是V-MAX高超音速系統發射的推進系統。據報道，最近在 XQ-58 Valkyrie 無人機上測試的複雜人工智慧軟體將影響美國空軍開發和部署自主技術的方式。

For 2024, expected Kratos growth areas, which are included in our base case financial forecast, include turbo jet turbofan and rocket engines for unmanned aerial drones, loitering munitions, cruise missiles, hypersonic systems, supersonic platforms, space, and other systems; increased target drone sales with target drones being used by the US and our allies to exercise radar, air defense, fighter aircraft, maritime, counter-UAS, and other platforms and systems, all of which are in increasing demand globally.

到2024 年，Kratos 的預期成長領域（包含在我們的基本情況財務預測中）包括用於無人機、徘徊彈藥、巡航飛彈、高超音速系統、超音速平台、太空和其他系統的渦輪噴氣渦輪風扇發動機和火箭發動機；目標無人機銷售增加，美國及其盟國使用目標無人機來演習雷達、防空、戰鬥機、海上、反無人機以及其他平台和系統，所有這些在全球範圍內的需求都在不斷增長。

Hardware and product sales growth related to air defense, counter-UAS radar and missile systems, including and Kratos's C5ISR and our microwave electronic products business. These include systems that are currently in theater in both Europe and the Middle East, and we expect the Sentinel program with our prime partner, Northrop, to also be a 2024 organic growth driver.

與防空、反無人機雷達和飛彈系統相關的硬體和產品銷售成長，包括 Kratos 的 C5ISR 和我們的微波電子產品業務。其中包括目前在歐洲和中東部署的系統，我們預計與我們的主要合作夥伴諾斯羅普合作的 Sentinel 計畫也將成為 2024 年的有機成長驅動力。

We expect to see growth in Kratos's space satellite and training systems division, including particularly strong growth in virtual augmented reality and other training systems. In 2024, we expect Kratos's first-to-market virtualized software-based open space C2 and TT&C suite to continue to gain customer acceptance in design and positions.

我們預計奎托斯的太空衛星和培訓系統部門將成長，其中虛擬擴增實境和其他培訓系統的成長尤其強勁。到 2024 年，我們預計 Kratos 首款上市的基於虛擬化軟體的開放空間 C2 和 TT&C 套件將繼續在設計和定位方面獲得客戶認可。

Additionally, we are currently forecasting for 2025 to be an inflection point year for Kratos's satellite business, both in organic revenue growth and in profit generation based on programs we have successfully received, those we expect to receive, and those we expect to either transition to, or begin production or deployment on.

此外，我們目前預測2025 年將是Kratos 衛星業務的拐點年，無論是在有機收入增長還是在利潤產生方面，這都是基於我們已成功接收的項目、我們期望接收的項目以及我們期望過渡到的項目，或開始生產或部署。

In the tactical drone area, we believe that Kratos remains well positioned for this new large and expected to be fast-growing market area, both with Kratos's drones and also with Kratos's family of turbo jet and our turbofan engines.

在戰術無人機領域，我們相信，無論是奎托斯的無人機，還是奎托斯的渦輪噴氣發動機系列和我們的渦輪扇發動機，奎托斯在這個新的大型且預計將快速增長的市場領域仍處於有利地位。

Tactical drone initiatives we are able to discuss publicly include: we are under a funded contract and have completed a successful series of mission system and related flights, including as related to Kratos's Mako tactical jet drone system. We are under a funded contract and are integrating Kratos's jet engines into Kratos's drones.

我們能夠公開討論的戰術無人機計劃包括：我們簽訂了一份資助合同，並已成功完成了一系列任務系統和相關飛行，包括與 Kratos 的 Mako 戰術噴氣式無人機系統相關的飛行。我們根據一份資助合同，正在將奎托斯的噴氣發動機整合到奎托斯的無人機中。

Kratos's ghost works is completing ground testing of a new drone-related system at our Burns Flat Range location, which program we expect to transition in the future to a larger range for final system demonstration. We had hoped to transition the system to a larger range in Q4, but we were unable to do so.

奎托斯的幽靈工廠正在我們的 Burns Flat Range 地點完成新的無人機相關係統的地面測試，我們預計該計劃將來會過渡到更大的範圍以進行最終系統演示。我們原本希望在第四季將系統過渡到更大的範圍，但我們未能做到。

We are moving rapidly with Shield AI, integrating Shield's artificial intelligence into multiple Kratos jet drones with flights being held at Kratos's Burns Flat Range facility. We are completing production of the last of the initial 12 Valkyries and we are in production on the second 12 Valkyries, which production rate we are calibrating now based on Kratos's internal resource allocation considerations, including as related to the new funded drone system program we have received.

我們正在快速推進 Shield AI，將 Shield 的人工智慧整合到多架 Kratos 噴射無人機中，並在 Kratos 的 Burns Flat Range 設施中進行飛行。我們正在完成最初12 架Valkyries 中的最後一架的生產，並且正在生產第二架12 架Valkyries，我們現在正在根據Kratos 的內部資源分配考慮因素來校準其生產率，包括與我們新資助的無人機系統計劃相關的因素已收到。

We are under funded contract for a Valkyrie variant where mission and other systems are being integrated. We are working with the government entity on a separate Valkyrie variant with funded first flights expected in the fourth quarter of this year.

我們正在簽訂一份瓦爾基里變體的資助合同，其中任務和其他系統正在整合。我們正在與政府實體合作開發一個單獨的 Valkyrie 變體，預計將在今年第四季進行首次飛行。

And Kratos' ghost works is working on an additional Valkyrie variant. With new capability, performance, and low cost, we believe will be another step function ahead for Kratos's tactical drone family. There are currently four Valkyrie variants that I can publicly confirm today and a fifth that Kratos's ghost works is currently assessing.

奎托斯的幽靈作品正在開發一個額外的女武神變種。憑藉新的功能、性能和低成本，我們相信 Kratos 的戰術無人機系列將邁出又一步。目前我今天可以公開確認有四種瓦爾基里變種，奎托斯的幽靈作品目前正在評估第五種變種。

We expect to receive the largest Valkyrie-related contract award to date in late 2024. And I am confident that all 24 Valkyries we have produced or planned to complete production on will ultimately be sold and delivered to funded customers.

我們預計將在 2024 年底獲得迄今為止最大的 Valkyrie 相關合約。我相信我們已經生產或計劃完成生產的所有 24 輛女武神最終都將出售並交付給資助的客戶。

We are establishing an additional production line for the new drone system program that we are under contract on with the partner. We believe that once we have the 2024 US federal budget that Kratos's Thanatos will receive a funded prime contract.

我們正在與合作夥伴簽訂合同，為新的無人機系統項目建立一條額外的生產線。我們相信，一旦我們獲得 2024 年美國聯邦預算，奎托斯的塔納托斯將獲得一份有資金的主要合約。

Based on recent events, it is also possible that we will receive a funded prime contract for Kratos's Athena drone program system late this year or early next year. Initial derivatives of both Thanatos and Athena are flying today with customers.

根據最近發生的事件，我們也有可能在今年年底或明年初收到奎托斯雅典娜無人機計畫系統的資助主要合約。Thanatos 和 Athena 的初始衍生品今天已與客戶一起飛行。

I expect Kratos's Valkyrie, Mako, Air Wolf, Thanatos, Athena, and other Kratos tactical drones to be successful. And we continue to progress with multiple funded customers, entities, or partners, including for system missionization, concept of operations, payload integration, et cetera.

我預計奎托斯的「瓦爾基里」、「灰鯖鯊」、「空狼」、「塔納托斯」、「雅典娜」和其他奎托斯戰術無人機會成功。我們繼續與多個資助的客戶、實體或合作夥伴一起取得進展，包括系統任務化、操作概念、有效載荷整合等。

However, we will remain conservative and we have included no tactical drone production assumptions in Kratos's 2024 base case financial forecast, only S&T, RDT&E, and similar funded development initiatives or programs.

然而，我們將保持保守，我們在 Kratos 的 2024 年基本情況財務預測中沒有包含戰術無人機生產假設，僅包含 S&T、RDT&E 以及類似的資助開發計劃或計劃。

Major initiatives and opportunities. Kratos currently plans to invest in or pursue in 2024 include: we are establishing production facilities for Kratos's jet engines, including for missiles, drones, loitering, and powered munitions for several platforms, systems, and opportunities that we are currently under funded development contract on.

重大措施和機遇。Kratos 目前計劃在2024 年投資或追求的目標包括：我們正在為Kratos 的噴射發動機建立生產設施，包括用於導彈、無人機、徘徊和動力彈藥的多個平台、系統和機會，我們目前正在資助開發合約。

We are completing Kratos's Sentinel program ground transporter production facility, which will be one of the largest and advanced technology secure production facilities in our company, which we are under a funded contract on. We are establishing the production line for the new system in Kratos's unmanned systems division I mentioned previously, which we are under a customer-funded contract and which is one of the most important programs in our company.

我們正在完成 Kratos 的 Sentinel 計劃地面運輸車生產設施，這將是我們公司最大、技術先進的安全生產設施之一，我們已簽訂了資助合約。我們正在前面提到的 Kratos 無人系統部門建立新系統的生產線，這是我們根據客戶資助的合約建立的，也是我們公司最重要的項目之一。

We're completing the Zeus 1 and Zeus 2 engines and preparing these systems for production and vehicle system integration, including as related to a customer-funded hypersonic program we have and other customer initiatives. We're completing Kratos Erinyes and Dark Fury hypersonic systems and beginning the build out of the related production integration facilities, also for which we have a funded customer contract.

我們正在完成 Zeus 1 和 Zeus 2 發動機，並準備這些系統用於生產和車輛系統集成，包括與我們擁有的客戶資助的高超音速計劃和其他客戶計劃相關的內容。我們正在完成奎托斯·厄里尼耶斯和黑暗之怒高超音速系統，並開始建造相關的生產整合設施，我們也為此簽訂了一份資助的客戶合約。

We currently expect to receive in 2024 a customer funded contract for approximately 25 Kratos Oriole rocket systems, which we will need to prepare for and execute on once received, all related to future launch missions. We are establishing a new space, qualified microwave electronics development and manufacturing facility, in Israel to support new-funded space system program awards we have received. Others, we expect to receive and we are expanding our existing production and manufacturing facility to meet the increased capacity and production requirements we're seeing.

目前，我們預計將在 2024 年收到約 25 個奎托斯金鶯火箭系統的客戶資助合同，我們需要在收到合約後做好準備和執行，所有這些都與未來的發射任務有關。我們正在以色列建立一個新的太空、合格的微波電子開發和製造工廠，以支持我們獲得的新資助的太空系統計劃獎項。我們期望收到其他產品，並且我們正在擴大現有的生產和製造設施，以滿足我們所看到的增加的產能和生產要求。

We will also complete enhancements to an expansion of our US-based microwave electronics manufacturing facility. We are establishing the facility and acquiring the machinery and equipment, including 3D and additive manufacturing equipment for Kratos's materials production center of excellence, where we are vertically integrating the production of Kratos's jet engines, space propulsion, and other programs and systems, most of which are already or are expected to be under funded government contracts.

我們也將完成美國微波電子製造工廠擴建的改進。我們正在為 Kratos 的卓越材料生產中心建立設施並購買機械和設備，包括 3D 和增材製造設備，我們在那裡垂直整合 Kratos 噴氣發動機、太空推進以及其他項目和系統的生產，其中大部分項目和系統已經或預計將獲得資助的政府合約。

We are also in discussions regarding new teaming or partner agreements related to significantly expanding Kratos's core business areas, including product system, software, and technology, all of which have funded customer support. And this includes KTT, our turbine business, and our blade engine initiative.

我們也正在討論與顯著擴展 Kratos 核心業務領域相關的新團隊或合作夥伴協議，包括產品系統、軟體和技術，所有這些都為客戶支援提供了資金。這包括 KTT、我們的渦輪機業務和我們的葉片引擎計劃。

These examples are representative of the large number of opportunities Kratos has and expects to receive and why 2024 is expected to be a significant internal investment and capital expenditure year as we prepare Kratos to execute on recently received funded programs. And we position Kratos to successfully receive additional expected large new programs.

這些例子代表了 Kratos 擁有和期望獲得的大量機會，以及為什麼 2024 年預計將是重要的內部投資和資本支出一年，因為我們準備讓 Kratos 執行最近收到的資助項目。我們將奎托斯定位為成功接收更多預期的大型新專案。

We believe that the industry and Kratos are in a once-in-a-generation global buildup of defense and security due to the geopolitical and overall increased threat environment. As a result of this strategic system build up, the number and size of the potential opportunities that Kratos has and continues to receive has never been greater. And we expect Kratos's future opportunity set to continue to increase, including based on discussions with our customers, and also our prime system integrator partners.

我們相信，由於地緣政治和整體威脅環境的增加，該產業和 Kratos 正處於一代人一次的全球國防和安全建設之中。由於這一戰略體系的建立，奎托斯已經並將繼續獲得的潛在機會的數量和規模從未如此之多。我們預計 Kratos 未來的機會將繼續增加，包括與我們的客戶以及我們的主要係統整合商合作夥伴的討論。

Accordingly, Kratos is focused on successful execution of our existing programs and contracts and making the required internally funded investments in order to be qualified to successfully win -- pursue and win these new opportunities. Accordingly, Kratos has no plans for any acquisitions of any size.

因此，克雷托斯專注於成功執行我們現有的計劃和合同，並進行所需的內部資助投資，以便有資格成功獲勝——追求並贏得這些新機會。因此，Kratos 沒有任何規模的收購計劃。

Operational challenges include the obtaining and retaining of qualified personnel, including those willing and able to obtain a national security clearance and the related high and increasing cost of these individuals and of the supply chain, which is adversely impacting Kratos's margins and also resource and capital allocation management as we execute on existing programs that we pursue new opportunities.

營運挑戰包括獲取和保留合格人員，包括那些願意並且能夠獲得國家安全許可的人員，以及這些人員和供應鏈的相關高昂且不斷增加的成本，這對 Kratos 的利潤以及資源和資本分配產生了不利影響當我們執行現有計劃時，我們尋求新的機會。

For Kratos's 2024 financial plan, we are currently forecasting Q3, and in particular, Q4 to be stronger than the first half of the year, which is directly related to the government contracting offices having to get funding under contract in a shortened time period as a result of the current CRA going through at least March 8 for four-plus months into government fiscal 2024.

對於 Kratos 2024 年的財務計劃，我們目前預測第三季度，特別是第四季度將強於上半年，這與政府承包辦公室必須在較短的時間內獲得合約資金直接相關，因為當前CRA 的結果至少要在3 月8 日生效，持續四個多月才能進入政府2024 財政年度。

If the CRA goes beyond March 8 of this year, we will take a look at the Kratos program portfolio and the facts and circumstances at that time and determine if any adjustment to our forecast is required. Deanna?

如果 CRA 的時間超過今年 3 月 8 日，我們將查看 Kratos 計劃組合以及當時的事實和情況，並確定是否需要對我們的預測進行調整。迪安娜？

Thank you, Eric. Good afternoon. As we have included a detailed summary of the fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 financial performance as well as the initial first-quarter and full-year 2024 financial guidance in the press release published earlier today, I will focus on the highlights in my remarks today.

謝謝你，埃里克。午安.由於我們在今天早些時候發布的新聞稿中詳細介紹了2023 年第四季度和全年財務業績以及初步的2024 年第一季度和全年財務指引，因此我將重點介紹我的報告中的重點內容。今天的言論。

Revenues for the fourth quarter were $273.8 million, exceeding our estimated range of $237 million to $257 million, which includes higher-than-expected performance and delivery in our space and satellite turbine technologies, C5ISR, and microwave products businesses, resulting in 17% organic growth in our KGS segment for the fourth quarter of 2023 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2022.

第四季營收為2.738 億美元，超出了我們2.37 億美元至2.57 億美元的預期範圍，其中包括我們的太空和衛星渦輪技術、C5ISR 和微波產品業務的業績和交付高於預期，有機營收率為17%與 2022 年第四季相比，2023 年第四季我們的 KGS 部門實現了成長。

Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth-quarter 2023 was $29.1 million, exceeding our estimated range of $19 million to $23 million, reflecting the additional revenues as well as a more favorable mix of revenues, including more higher-margin software and data-related content than forecasted in our space and satellite business.

2023 年第四季調整後EBITDA 為2,910 萬美元，超出了我們1,900 萬至2,300 萬美元的估計範圍，反映了額外的收入以及更有利的收入組合，包括比預測更多的利潤率更高的軟體和資料相關內容在我們的太空和衛星業務。

Free cash flow generated from operations of $48.1 million after funding CapEx of $19.3 million came in above our estimated range of breakeven free cash flow for the fourth quarter of 2023, reflecting the increased revenues and EBITDA generated during the quarter, as well as favorable timing on accelerated customer milestone payments collected in our turbine technologies, unmanned systems, and space and satellite businesses, which more than offset our previous estimated shift in certain payment milestones in our training solutions and C5ISR businesses.

在為1,930 萬美元的資本支出提供資金後，營運產生的自由現金流量為4,810 萬美元，高於我們對2023 年第四季盈虧平衡自由現金流量的估計範圍，反映了該季度收入和EBITDA 的增加，以及有利的時機加速了我們在渦輪機技術、無人系統以及太空和衛星業務中收取的客戶里程碑付款，這遠遠抵消了我們先前估計的培訓解決方案和 C5ISR 業務中某些付款里程碑的變化。

Consolidated DSOs or days sales outstanding continued to improve from 119 days (sic - see press release, "117 days") in the third quarter to 109 days in the fourth quarter of '23 with approximately $34 million in net cash generation from customer receivables during the fourth quarter, which included certain favorable customer milestone payments. In addition, advance payments or deferred revenues increased $11 million during the fourth quarter.

合併DSO 或應收帳款週轉天數持續改善，從第三季的119 天（原文如此- 參見新聞稿，「117 天」）增至23 年第四季的109 天，期間客戶應收帳款產生的淨現金約為3,400 萬美元第四季度，其中包括某些有利的客戶里程碑付款。此外，第四季預付款或遞延收入增加了 1,100 萬美元。

For full-year 2023, revenues were $1.037 billion or an organic growth rate of 12.6% above FY22 revenues and above our estimated range of $1 billion to $1.02 billion, including higher-than-expected performance and delivery in our space and satellite, turbine technologies, and microwave products businesses.

2023 年全年營收為10.37 億美元，比2022 財年營收成長12.6%，也高於我們10 億至10.2 億美元的預期範圍，其中包括我們的太空和衛星、渦輪機技術的業績和交付高於預期和微波產品業務。

Full-year adjusted EBITDA was $95.4 million, above our expected range of $85 million to $89 million, reflecting the increased revenues and also a more favorable mix of revenues. Cash flow generated from operations for full-year '23 was $65.2 million and free cash flow generated from operations was $21.1 million after funding of capital expenditures of $52.4 million, less $8.3 million in receipts of proceeds for sales of Valkyries that were built as Kratos' capital assets.

全年調整後 EBITDA 為 9,540 萬美元，高於我們 8,500 萬至 8,900 萬美元的預期範圍，反映了收入的增加以及更有利的收入組合。23 年全年營運產生的現金流為6,520 萬美元，在資本支出融資5,240 萬美元後，營運產生的自由現金流為2,110 萬美元，減去出售作為奎托斯建造的瓦爾基里的收益收入830萬美元資本資產。

As mentioned earlier, cash flow was positively impacted by favorable customer payment milestone receipts in our turbine technologies, unmanned systems, and space And satellite businesses, which more than offset the shift in previously expected payment milestones in our training solutions and C5ISR businesses.

如前所述，我們的渦輪機技術、無人系統以及太空和衛星業務中有利的客戶付款里程碑收入對現金流產生了積極影響，這遠遠抵消了我們培訓解決方案和C5ISR 業務中先前預期的付款里程碑的變化。

Our contract mix for the fourth quarter of '23 was 71% of revenues generated from fixed-price contracts, 24% of our revenues generated from cost-plus type contracts, and 5% of revenues generated from time and material contracts.

2023 年第四季我們的合同組合中，71% 的收入來自固定價格合同，24% 的收入來自成本加成型合同，5% 的收入來自時間和材料合約。

Revenues generated from contracts with the US federal government during the fourth quarter of 2023 were approximately 69%, including revenues generated from contracts with the DoD, non-DoD federal government agencies, and FMS contracts. We generated 13% of revenues from commercial customers and 18% from foreign customers in the fourth quarter. We continue to make progress in our hiring and retention of skilled technical labor across the company with total headcount of 3,932 employees at the end of 2023 compared to 3,645 at the end of 2022.

2023 年第四季與美國聯邦政府的合約產生的收入約為 69%，其中包括與國防部、非國防部聯邦政府機構和 FMS 合約產生的收入。第四季度，我們13%的營收來自商業客戶，18%來自外國客戶。我們在招募和留住全公司熟練技術工人方面繼續取得進展，截至 2023 年底，員工總數為 3,932 人，而 2022 年底為 3,645 人。

Now moving on to financial guidance. Our initial first-quarter and full-year 2024 financial guidance we provided today includes our current forecasted business mix and current delivery schedules and our assumptions related to the expected impact of the continued operating challenge related to our obtaining and retaining qualified technical personnel and the related increased cost for these employees and across our entire labor base.

現在轉向財務指導。我們今天提供的初步第一季和2024 年全年財務指引包括我們目前預測的業務組合和當前交付時間表，以及我們對與我們獲得和保留合格技術人員相關的持續營運挑戰的預期影響的假設以及相關的這些員工以及我們整個勞動力基礎的成本增加。

Our guidance also includes our assumptions related to the continued impact of supply chain disruptions, inflation and related expected costs and price increases. Our first-quarter and full-year 2024 guidance reflects the impact of certain performance and deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2023, certain of which had been originally estimated to be executed or delivered in the first quarter of 2024.

我們的指導還包括與供應鏈中斷、通貨膨脹以及相關預期成本和價格上漲的持續影響相關的假設。我們的 2024 年第一季和全年指引反映了 2023 年第四季某些業績和交付的影響，其中某些最初預計將在 2024 年第一季執行或交付。

As Eric mentioned earlier, we are forecasting that our unmanned systems business will be one of our leading growth drivers in 2024, which is currently forecasted to generate $260 million to $270 million in revenues, reflecting approximately 20% to 25% organic growth over 2023.

正如艾瑞克之前提到的，我們預測我們的無人系統業務將成為我們2024 年的主要成長動力之一，目前預計該業務將產生2.6 億至2.7 億美元的收入，反映出2023 年約20%至25% 的有機成長。

Our 2024 cash flow estimates include investments in elevated capital expenditures, as Eric discussed earlier, on a base case, estimated range of $70 million to $80 million which includes: the second production build for Valkyries of approximately $20 million in anticipation of customer requirements and demand; approximately $10 million to $13 million to expand and build out our microwave Israeli production facility, which includes expansion and improvements related to being space qualified; approximately $10 million to $12 million to establish Kratos's material production center of excellence; and approximately $5 million to $7 million to expand our global satellite sensor network in response to specific customer contractual requirement, which specific expansion costs are expected to be recovered under customer contracts.

我們的2024 年現金流預測包括對增加資本支出的投資，正如埃里克之前討論的那樣，在基本情況下，估計範圍為7000 萬美元至8000 萬美元，其中包括：根據客戶要求和需求，為Valkyries 進行第二次生產，投資額約2000 萬美元;約 1,000 萬至 1,300 萬美元用於擴建和建造我們的以色列微波生產設施，其中包括與空間合格相關的擴建和改進；大約1000萬至1200萬美元用於建立Kratos的卓越材料生產中心；約 500 萬至 700 萬美元用於擴展我們的全球衛星感測器網絡，以滿足特定的客戶合約要求，具體擴展成本預計將根據客戶合約收回。

Importantly, a US government budget was not passed by October 1, 2023, the beginning of federal fiscal year 2024. And as a result, Kratos and the industry are operating under a continuing resolution authorization, which currently expires March 8, 2024, under which no new contracts and no increases in increase in contract production or funding, among other stipulations, is permitted.

重要的是，美國政府預算在 2023 年 10 月 1 日（2024 年聯邦財政年度開始）之前尚未獲得通過。因此，Kratos 和該行業正在根據一項持續決議授權進行運營，該授權目前將於2024 年3 月8 日到期，根據該授權，除其他規定外，不允許簽訂新合同，也不允許增加合同生產或資金的增加。

Kratos's 2024 financial forecast and guidance provided today assumes that the current CRA will be resolved and that a US federal and DoD budget will be in place by March 8. As a result, similar to Kratos's 2023 quarterly financial trajectory, which fiscal year also experienced a CRA, we are forecasting Kratos's third and fourth financial quarter results of 2024 to be significantly greater than the fiscal first and second quarter results, with the fourth quarter expected to be particularly strong in both revenue and EBITDA.

Kratos 今天提供的 2024 年財務預測和指導假設當前的 CRA 將得到解決，並且美國聯邦和國防部的預算將在 3 月 8 日之前到位。因此，與Kratos 2023 年季度財務軌跡類似（該財年也經歷了CRA），我們預測Kratos 2024 年第三和第四財季業績將顯著高於第一財季和第二財季業績，預計第四季在營收和 EBITDA 方面都特別強勁。

If the current CRA goes beyond March 8, we will evaluate Kratos's 2024 financial forecast at that time based on the existing facts, circumstances, and expectations.

如果目前的CRA超過3月8日，我們將根據現有的事實、情況和預期評估Kratos屆時的2024年財務預測。

Great. Thank you, Deanna, and I will turn it over to the moderator now for questions.

偉大的。謝謝你，迪安娜，我現在將其轉交給主持人提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Michael Ciarmoli, Truist Capital.

邁克爾·恰莫利 (Michael Ciarmoli)，Truist Capital。

Hey, good evening, guys. Nice results. Thanks for taking the questions. Eric, sort of level set us on some of the higher profile opportunities. I mean, we've seen -- you know, the CCA, I guess, has selected five firms. I guess there's going to be a down-select to two.

嘿，晚上好，夥計們。不錯的結果。感謝您提出問題。艾瑞克（Eric），某種程度上讓我們獲得了一些更高調的機會。我的意思是，我們已經看到——我想，CCA 已經選擇了五家公司。我猜將會有一個向下選擇到兩個。

You're ahead of UAS. As said there, you're hopeful of being on the next increment. And then I guess also, right along with that Replicator kind of tranche one and two, how should we think about the opportunity set here in the near term?

你領先於無人機系統。正如那裡所說，你對進入下一個增量充滿希望。然後我想，除了複製器類型的第一部分和第二部分之外，我們應該如何考慮短期內設置的機會？

We are the absolute low-cost, rapid provider of Jet drones, and that's unarguable. It's well known by the government and by the primes. So we are uniquely positioned, we believe, for every opportunity that's been talked about publicly and some new ones that are coming that have not yet been talked about publicly as either the prime or as a key partner with somebody. That's how we see it. And on certain -- that's on aircraft.

我們是絕對低成本、快速的噴射無人機供應商，這是無可爭議的。它為政府和總理所熟知。因此，我們相信，對於每一個被公開談論的機會以及一些即將到來的新機會，我們都處於獨特的地位，這些新機會尚未被公開談論為主要合作夥伴或關鍵合作夥伴。我們就是這樣看的。可以肯定的是——那是在飛機上。

On certain classes of them that are coming, not only on the aircraft side, we're also positioned with our jet engines. So we are we are uniquely positioned, Mike, for what's going on in the drone area across every service branch.

在即將推出的某些類別中，不僅在飛機方面，我們還配備了噴射發動機。因此，麥克，對於每個服務部門的無人機領域正在發生的事情，我們處於獨特的地位。

Okay. Can you guys -- I mean, as you look at the pipeline of opportunities which increased significantly, I mean, are these two programs in that pipeline?

好的。你們能否——我的意思是，當你們看到顯著增加的機會管道時，我的意思是，這兩個項目是否在該渠道中？

I'm not sure -- I want to make sure I answer the question, Mike. Which of the two programs and which one?

我不確定——我想確保我回答了這個問題，麥克。這兩個程式中哪一個、哪一個？

Collaborative combat aircraft and Replicator.

協作戰鬥機和複製機。

Yeah. Every drilling program that's out there, we're expected to be in. I'll leave it at that.

是的。每一個現有的鑽探計劃，我們都應該參與其中。我就這樣吧。

Okay, fair enough. And then just on the -- you mentioned a couple of times about the Valkyrie and different variants. I mean, can you give us a little bit of color on those variants? I guess, since you're still self-funding and using your own CapEx to build these, what are some of the -- if you can even talk to the variance, I mean, I'm assuming, you know, extended range, different payloads, you know, maybe even -- you know, landing gear. But are those kind of what customers might be looking for out of the Valkyrie?

好吧，很公平。然後就--您多次提到了瓦爾基里和不同的變體。我的意思是，您能給我們一些關於這些變體的資訊嗎？我想，既然你仍然是自籌資金並使用自己的資本支出來構建這些，那麼其中有哪些 - 如果你甚至可以討論差異，我的意思是，我假設，你知道，擴展範圍，不同的有效載荷，你知道，甚至可能是起落架。但客戶可能會從 Valkyrie 尋找這些東西嗎？

Yes, yes, and yes.

是的，是的，是的。

Okay. Okay. Fair enough. I'll jump back in the queue and keep it at that. Thanks.

好的。好的。很公平。我會跳回隊列並保持不變。謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Peter Arment, Baird. Your question please, Peter.

彼得·阿門特，貝爾德。請你提問，彼得。

Good afternoon, Eric and Deanna. Hi, Eric.

下午好，埃里克和迪安娜。嗨，艾瑞克。

Good afternoon.

午安.

On the whole teaming approach, was this -- can you maybe just give us how this kind of evolve? Is this something you kind of been planning or thinking about over the last year? What was the best kind of -- I guess, how would you describe it in terms of working with primes versus going in alone?

就整個團隊合作方法而言，您能否告訴我們這種方式是如何演變的？這是您去年一直在計劃或考慮的事情嗎？什麼是最好的——我想，你會如何描述使用素數與單獨使用素數的情況？

Yes, probably couple of years ago, Peter, when the different classes of the drones that the government was looking at started to get more refined between expendables, attritables, exquisites, we looked at our -- and the various weapons systems they would carry and certain of the characteristics they would have, we huddled internally and we made some strategic decisions that we would -- in certain areas that are obvious like expendables, disposables, or attritables, that's like right in our sweet spot.

是的，可能是幾年前，彼得，當政府正在研究的不同類別的無人機開始在消耗品、消耗品、精緻品之間變得更加精緻時，我們著眼於我們的——以及它們將攜帶的各種武器系統和我們在內部進行了討論，並做出了一些戰略決策——在某些顯而易見的領域，如消耗品、一次性用品或可消耗品，這正是我們的最佳選擇。

And all things being equal, we would look to prime those. There are some areas we might not if they're carrying certain mission systems that are very unique that the customer wants to have integrated and a prime has that mission system.

在所有條件相同的情況下，我們會努力做好這些。如果他們攜帶某些非常獨特的任務系統，而客戶希望整合這些任務系統，並且主要擁有該任務系統，那麼有些領域我們可能不會。

As you move up the capability ladder, we decided it probably would make more sense from a probability win standpoint. If we looked at it on a biggie and we said, okay, our probability of win is 25%, we have to invest in making this up $100 million if we go at it alone to be the prime.

當你提升能力階梯時，我們認為從機率獲勝的角度來看，這可能更有意義。如果我們從一個大的角度來看，我們說，好吧，我們獲勝的機率是 25%，如果我們單獨努力成為第一，我們就必須投資 1 億美元。

Or our probability of when we think is 90%, we get significant content on something. And our investment is significantly less than that. With everything we have going on, we would choose the latter there.

或者說，當我們思考時，我們有 90% 的可能性會得到關於某件事的重要內容。而我們的投資遠低於這個數字。考慮到我們所發生的一切，我們會選擇後者。

And so a couple of years ago, we started looking at it that way, and that's an approach we've been taking across Kratos in many areas: drones, hypersonic systems, jet engines. Jet engines, you'll be seeing that, I think, soon. It's the way we're doing it.

因此，幾年前，我們開始以這種方式看待它，這也是我們在奎托斯的許多領域採用的方法：無人機、高超音速系統、噴射發動機。噴射發動機，我想你很快就會看到。這就是我們正在做的事情。

We're partnering with the best companies in the world, the prime system integrators and they're our partners. They are the best companies in the world at certain things. No one can do it better. And we partner with them when it increases our P win.

我們正在與世界上最好的公司、主要的系統整合商合作，他們是我們的合作夥伴。在某些方面，他們是世界上最好的公司。沒有人能做得更好。當他們增加我們的利潤時，我們就會與他們合作。

Certainly, it seems like an inflection year for your tactical drones. On your -- the jet engine production that you're kind of investing in CapEx, is that expected to be completed this year? Or do we think that this kind of runs into '25 as well?

當然，對於戰術無人機來說，今年似乎是個轉折年。關於您在資本支出上投資的噴射引擎生產，預計今年完成嗎？或者我們認為這種情況也會延續到 25 年嗎？

Yes. So on the programs that we've won that we're on and that we have vision that are going into production, those were getting done this year. However, there are several others. There is a lot going on in loitering munitions, cruise missiles, and low-cost jet drones.

是的。因此，對於我們已經贏得的、我們正在進行的、我們有即將投入生產的願景的項目，這些項目今年就完成了。然而，還有其他幾個。徘徊彈藥、巡航飛彈和低成本噴氣式無人機方面有很多進展。

So probably second half of this year, I think we're going to be awarded production on some others, which means we'll have to establish some additional production lines because it's a different size of engine. So I think this is probably going to be a process probably for the next 24 months. But it will definitely be tied to programs that were designed in on and going into production. It will not be a build it and hope they come.

因此，可能在今年下半年，我認為我們將獲得其他一些產品的生產權，這意味著我們將不得不建立一些額外的生產線，因為它是不同尺寸的引擎。所以我認為這可能是未來 24 個月的一個過程。但它肯定會與設計並投入生產的程序聯繫在一起。這不會是一個構建它並希望他們來。

Got it. And just lastly, you've had a flurry of press releases since I guess November, December with some of these large awards. And you got one here in January that you didn't give any kind of timeline on. I think it was the $50 million, the hardware and radar for CUS.

知道了。最後，我想自 11 月、12 月以來，你們已經發布了一系列新聞稿，其中包括一些大型獎項。一月你收到了一個，但你沒有給出任何時間表。我認為是 CUS 的 5000 萬美元硬體和雷達。

Yes.

是的。

Can you talk a little bit about how these kind of roll out and when do they start to inflect more on the top line? Thanks.

您能否談談這些是如何推出的以及它們何時開始對營收產生更多影響？謝謝。

Yes. So that $50 million one, that's going to roll out starting second half of this year. And it's going to -- it will be done probably -- nearly done by the end of '25. I'm expecting. I think we're going to get another one similar size in the next few months.

是的。這個耗資 5000 萬美元的項目將於今年下半年開始推出。這將——可能會完成——到 25 年底幾乎完成。我期待著。我想我們將在接下來的幾個月內獲得另一款類似尺寸的產品。

As I mentioned, these systems are deployed in Europe and they're deployed in the Middle East. The contract we were able to announce today, we just got customer approval. Coincidentally, the two announced, the space one. This one is so important -- I'm glad you asked, Pete -- from so many angles.

正如我所提到的，這些系統部署在歐洲和中東。我們今天宣布的合約剛剛獲得客戶批准。巧合的是，兩人宣布，太空一。這一點非常重要——皮特，我很高興你從很多角度提出這個問題。

As I mentioned, this is the largest recompete in the company. We don't have any more recompetes of any size for the foreseeable future. So we are bolted in. That's number one.

正如我所提到的，這是公司最大規模的重新競爭。在可預見的未來，我們不會再舉行任何規模的重新比賽。所以我們被困住了。這是第一名。

Number two, as I said in my prepared remarks, the ceiling is 50% higher than it was. So it's not just bolted in. It's going to be a massive growth vehicle for us, and it's driven primarily by the number of space systems that are going up into space.

第二，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，上限比原來高了 50%。所以它不僅僅是用螺栓固定的。對我們來說，這將是一個巨大的成長工具，它主要是由進入太空的太空系統數量所驅動的。

That is definitely going to start ramping for us in the second half of this year and into '25 and into '26. We need a budget. Budget, budget, budget.

這肯定會在今年下半年、25 年和 26 年開始加速。我們需要一個預算。預算，預算，預算。

So our space business in all of Kratos, not commercially, not like the Intelsats of the world. But on the military side is the most susceptible in our company to the CRA. Because we've once -- as you recall, in '22 and '23, we won so many development programs and that business just had revenue growth of like 15% or 20%.

因此，我們在整個奎托斯的太空業務不是商業性的，也不像世界上的國際通訊衛星公司。但在我們公司中，軍事方面是最容易受到 CRA 影響的。因為我們曾經——正如您還記得的那樣，在 22 年和 23 年，我們贏得瞭如此多的開發計劃，而該業務的收入增長約為 15% 或 20%。

Okay. We need the budget for production and deployment. And since we're delayed, that's why I'm looking that to happen in '25. So that's how I see those rolling out.

好的。我們需要生產和部署的預算。由於我們被推遲了，這就是為什麼我希望這會在 25 年發生。這就是我對這些產品推出的看法。

Appreciate it. Congrats on the results.

欣賞它。祝賀結果。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Seth Seifman, JPMorgan.

賽斯‧塞夫曼，摩根大通。

Thanks very much and good evening and a good result. Wanted to ask -- so the unmanned business had a very nice amount of growth expected this year. And we've kind of seen things moving at a similar level the past couple of quarters. We're obviously are kind of in the most of the first quarter of '24 here.

非常感謝，晚上好，取得了很好的結果。我想問一下——今年無人駕駛業務預計會有非常好的成長。在過去的幾個季度中，我們看到事情以類似的水平發展。顯然，我們正處於 24 年第一季的大部分時間。

So that's probably, once again, a similar level of revenue to what we've seen, if not a little bit lower seasonally. And so the implication would be that kind of exiting this year would be a pretty big number from a revenue perspective that, on its own, carries a certain amount of growth into '25? Is that kind of a fair way to think about it?

因此，這可能再次與我們所看到的收入水平相似，即使不是季節性下降一點點。因此，這意味著從收入角度來看，今年的退出將是一個相當大的數字，本身就可以在 25 世紀帶來一定程度的成長？這是一種公平的思考方式嗎？

Let me restate it for you. A number of -- let's take target drones. The target drone business has been ramping. And you can see by world events what's going on there. So that big blob base has been increasing for the past year. It's going to take another significant step function up in 2024 as soon as we get the '24 budget.

讓我為您重述一下。一些——讓我們以無人機為例。目標無人機業務一直在蓬勃發展。你可以透過世界事件了解那裡正在發生什麼。所以在過去的一年裡，這個大的斑點基數一直在增加。一旦我們獲得 24 小時預算，到 2024 年，它的功能將進一步邁出重要一步。

Okay. So the base has gone up, '23 over '22. The base is going to go up again '24 over '23 as soon as we get the budget. The problem is, let's say, we get the budget March 8, God willing, the contracting -- the government contracting officers, they've got to basically get 12 months' worth of contractual and obligations done in six months. And that's why it pushes out into Q3 and Q4, if that answers your question.

好的。所以基數上升了，'23 比 '22 多。一旦我們獲得預算，基數將在 24 年比 23 年再次上升。問題是，比方說，我們在 3 月 8 日收到預算，如果上帝願意的話，合約——政府合約官員，他們基本上必須在 6 個月內完成 12 個月的合約和義務。這就是為什麼它會進入第三季度和第四季度，如果這回答了你的問題。

No, totally understood. But then, that's at a level in Q4 that -- is that a higher level back and can drive a decent amount of growth in 2025?

不，完全明白。但是，這是第四季度的水平——這是一個更高的水平，可以在 2025 年推動可觀的成長嗎？

Correct, correct. And that's the right way to look at it, yes. So the bow wave from '22 CRA, we saw that. The bow wave from '21 CRA, we saw at the end of '22. The bow wave from '22 CRA, we saw at the end of '23. The bow wave from this one, we'll see '24, '25. Exactly. Correct.

正確，正確。是的，這是正確的看待它的方式。所以我們看到了 22 CRA 的弓波。我們在 22 年底看到了 21 CRA 的弓波。我們在 23 年底看到了 22 CRA 的弓波。從這個的弓波，我們會看到'24，'25。確切地。正確的。

Okay. And then just backing into -- I think what the number you talked about for unmanned implied would be something like 6% growth or so for government solutions. And just so anything that -- the pieces that are kind of growing more quickly and more slowly than that kind of a 6% average for KGS in '24.

好的。然後回到——我認為你所說的無人值守的數字意味著政府解決方案的成長率約為 6% 左右。無論如何，這些作品的成長速度比 KGS 24 年 6% 的平均成長速度更快或更慢。

Yes. As I said, our space business is the one within Kratos, it's based on development program transitioning to deployment is the most susceptible to a CRA.

是的。正如我所說，我們的太空業務是 Kratos 內部的業務，它基於開發計劃，過渡到部署是最容易受到 CRA 影響的。

So our space business, which is our biggest, so it's also the hardest to grow on, just it's coming off with -- what did it do, Deanna? A 15% or 20%?

所以我們的太空業務是我們最大的，所以它也是最難發展的，只是它正在消失——它做了什麼，迪安娜？15%還是20%？

15% in the quarter.

本季成長 15%。

It just did 15% organic growth. We are forecasting that primarily due to the CRA to be one of our lowest growers in 2024. Because we need to get that budget for these programs we've won to ramp up.

它只實現了 15% 的有機成長。我們預測這主要是因為 CRA 將成為 2024 年成長最低的國家之一。因為我們需要為這些項目獲得預算，所以我們已經贏得了增加預算。

Got it. Got it. Okay. Thanks very much.

知道了。知道了。好的。非常感謝。

Mike Crawford, B. Riley Securities.

麥克‧克勞福德 (Mike Crawford)，B. 萊利證券 (Riley Securities)。

Thank you, Nick. Eric and Deanna, just to add help understand the guidance. If you were able to actually contract to sell both Valkyrie production spirals before year end, what would be the rough delta on additional revenue, and maybe more interestingly, reduced CapEx?

謝謝你，尼克。Eric 和 Deanna，只是為了幫助理解指導。如果您能夠在年底之前實際簽訂銷售瓦爾基里生產螺旋的合同，那麼額外收入的粗略增量是多少，也許更有趣的是，減少的資本支出是什麼？

Mike, as Eric had mentioned, we are balancing our internal resources on the cadence of that production build for that second line of Valkyries. So that's a factor that we're taking into consideration. The CapEx that is related to Valkyrie production for 2024 is approximately $20 million.

麥克，正如艾瑞克所提到的，我們正在根據瓦爾基里第二條生產線的生產節奏來平衡我們的內部資源。所以這是我們正在考慮的一個因素。2024 年與 Valkyrie 生產相關的資本支出約為 2000 萬美元。

So there will -- on that cadence, we would expect to continue to build throughout in 2025. And that's based upon just how our internal resources, how we're prioritizing those resources.

因此，我們預計將按照這種節奏在 2025 年繼續建造。這取決於我們的內部資源以及我們如何優先考慮這些資源。

If those were sold to the extent they're completed or to the extent they're percent completed as we've discussed before, since they would be subject to percentage of completion accounting, then let's say that $20 million that we had incurred in 2024, if a certain number were sold, then the percentage complete related to those aircraft that are sold would be recognized as revenue in 2024.

如果這些產品按照我們之前討論過的完成程度或完成百分比出售，因為它們將受到完成百分比會計的影響，那麼假設我們在 2024 年產生了 2000 萬美元，如果售出一定數量，則與售出飛機相關的完成百分比將在2024 年確認為收入。

And then depending on the milestones that we're able to negotiate with the customer that would be -- then the cash receipts would fall in whatever period it was fallen, whatever we were able to negotiate from a milestone perspective.

然後，根據我們能夠與客戶協商的里程碑，無論我們能夠從里程碑的角度協商什麼，現金收入都會在任何時期下降。

So, Mike, in a total blue sky world -- Deanna, what's the CapEx in Valkyries at the end of the year, at the end of '23?

那麼，Mike，在一個完全藍天的世界中 - Deanna，Valkyries 到年底、23 年底的資本支出是多少？

It's over $30 million.

價值超過3000萬美元。

Over $30 million. So, Mike, in a perfect blue-sky world, if we got a production order from all, that $30 million would flip into revenue.

超過3000萬美元。所以，麥克，在一個完美的藍天世界中，如果我們收到所有人的生產訂單，那 3000 萬美元將轉化為收入。

Yes.

是的。

And whatever percent of the $20 million in 2024, let's say, we're $10 million in and it happens in June, we'd get a pickup of $40 million in revenue, something like that.

無論 2024 年 2000 萬美元的百分比如何，假設我們有 1000 萬美元，並且發生在 6 月份，我們都會獲得 4000 萬美元的收入，類似的東西。

Okay, thank you. And then, Eric, when you said you were expecting that perhaps to potentially contract for this in late '24, would that be after a new government budget that presumably they're going to pass before the end of December when the new Congress has come in?

好的謝謝。然後，艾瑞克，當你說你預計可能會在 24 年底簽訂合約時，那是在新的政府預算之後，大概他們將在 12 月底新國會到來之前通過在？

No, sir. It's in the fundings in the current budget. I'm just planning on the budget we had done in early March. And as I've said a few times, it's going to take a while. The contracting offices have a lot to do and so it'll take until late in the year.

不，先生。它包含在當前預算的資金中。我正在計劃我們三月初制定的預算。正如我多次說過的，這需要一段時間。簽約辦公室有很多工作要做，因此需要到今年年底才能完成。

Okay. That makes sense. And then just switching gears, given just the thousands of missiles that have been expanded in the Mideast, can you comment on your microwave systems backlog?

好的。這就說得通了。然後只是切換方式，考慮到中東已經擴大了數千枚導彈，您能評論一下您的微波系統積壓嗎？

Yes. So our microwave electronics business, the biggest part of it, as you know, is in Israel. And we are one of the primary providers on virtually every Israeli missile system and radar system. And the missiles are the ones, obviously, the razor of the razorblade. So think of Iron Dome, we're on the seekers.

是的。如您所知，我們的微波電子業務最大的一部分位於以色列。我們幾乎是所有以色列飛彈系統和雷達系統的主要供應商之一。顯然，導彈就是剃刀裡的剃刀。想想鐵穹，我們就是探索者。

So, Deanna, what are -- we're at record levels?

那麼，迪安娜，我們處於創紀錄的水平是什麼？

We're record backlog level.

我們的積壓水準創歷史新高。

We're record backlog level. We're at record revenue level. It's looking great for '24. It's looking great for -- I mean, this is terrible. What's driving this? But our microwave business is doing very well because the Israelis are defending themselves.

我們的積壓水準創歷史新高。我們的收入水準創歷史新高。24 歲的看起來很棒。它看起來很棒——我的意思是，這太糟糕了。是什麼推動了這一點？但我們的微波爐業務做得很好，因為以色列人正在自衛。

Okay, thanks. And then just off of this $877 million IDIQ where you're pretty much, I think, competing with Northrop and you said you were hoping to get an order for 25 Oriole rockets. How much of those first for systems?

好的謝謝。然後，就在這個價值 8.77 億美元的 IDIQ 項目中，我認為您幾乎正在與諾斯羅普公司競爭，並且您說您希望獲得 25 枚金鶯火箭的訂單。其中有多少首先用於系統？

Right. So those would be totally separate from that. That's a different customer.

正確的。所以那些將與那完全分開。那是一個不同的客戶。

Okay.

好的。

Totally separate. So that would be incremental to that. It's a different customer.

完全分開。所以這將是增量。這是一個不同的客戶。

And so the IDIQ, that would be for Space Force payload --?

IDIQ，用於太空部隊有效載荷——？

Right, right. (multiple speakers) That would be under -- it's a different customer. It's not that customer. It's incremental. And it's in addition to what we get under the $877 million award.

是的是的。（多個發言者）那將是 - 這是一個不同的客戶。不是那個顧客。這是增量的。這還不包括我們根據 8.77 億美元獎金獲得的獎金。

Okay. Maybe just one final one is just today -- and today, there was a pretty big merger announcement with one of your customers, BlueHalo merging with Eclipse. And I'm wondering if that changed the scope of your $160 million open space award that you're working with them on the SCAR program.

好的。也許今天就是最後一件事——今天，您的一位客戶宣布了一項相當大的合併公告，BlueHalo 與 Eclipse 合併。我想知道這是否會改變您與他們合作 SCAR 專案的 1.6 億美元開放空間獎勵的範圍。

It absolutely does not. This is great for BlueHalo; it's great for us. It's great for the company they merged with. This another up-and-coming disruptive partner of Kratos is in BlueHalo. So no change. And that SCAR program is going to be one of the big drivers for Kratos's 2025.

絕對不是。這對於 BlueHalo 來說非常有用；這對我們來說很棒。這對他們合併的公司來說是件好事。奎托斯的另一個嶄露頭角的顛覆性合作夥伴是 BlueHalo。所以沒有改變。SCAR 計劃將成為 Kratos 2025 年的主要推動力之一。

Excellent. Thank you.

出色的。謝謝。

Yes, sir.

是的先生。

Ken Herbert, RBC Capital Markets.

肯‧赫伯特，加拿大皇家銀行資本市場。

Yes. Good afternoon, Eric and Deanna. Hey, I wanted to follow up on your comments in the sort of the shift in strategy. As you look to build out more sort of merchant businesses, it sounds like there's a real opportunity within rocket motors, electronic devices, unmanned other areas to replicate what you've done on the space side.

是的。下午好，埃里克和迪安娜。嘿，我想跟進你對策略轉變的評論。當你希望建立更多類型的商業業務時，聽起來火箭引擎、電子設備、無人其他領域確實有機會複製你在太空方面所做的事情。

Now, as you think about that and you think about the other opportunities, is there any way you could maybe rank order those other businesses and sort of how far along that curve you think they are to, I guess, what I would call sort of established merchant supplier status? And how does that maybe impact growth of those businesses this year? And then of course, into '25?

現在，當你思考這一點並思考其他機會時，有沒有什麼方法可以對這些其他業務進行排序，以及你認為它們沿著這條曲線走多遠，我猜，我稱之為某種已確立商家供應商地位？這對今年這些業務的成長有何影響？當然，進入'25？

Yes. Turbo jet and turbofan engines for missiles, powered munitions, loitering munitions. We are way up or down the curve, whichever way you want to look at it, relative to being the trusted partner with the prime system integrators with those engines on their weapon systems. And this value proposition I'm going to give you right here is the value proposition we bring to them.

是的。用於飛彈、動力彈藥、徘徊彈藥的渦輪噴射發動機和渦輪風扇發動機。相對於成為在武器系統上配備這些引擎的主要係統整合商值得信賴的合作夥伴，無論你從哪個角度來看，我們都處於上升或下降的狀態。我將在這裡向您提供的價值主張就是我們為他們帶來的價值主張。

Okay. I'm making this up. Raytheon's doing a missile. Northrop's doing a missile. Lockheed's doing a missile. It all needs 150-pound thrust engine. If we build 150-pound thrust engines, they all come to us because we get leverage because we have three orders, one from each of them, which drives the cost down, which makes them more cost effective for their customer. And it brings value to everybody.

好的。我正在彌補這個。雷神公司正在研發飛彈。諾斯羅普正在研發飛彈。洛克希德公司正在研發飛彈。這一切都需要150磅推力的引擎。如果我們製造 150 磅推力發動機，他們都會來找我們，因為我們獲得了槓桿作用，因為我們有三個訂單，每個訂單一個，這會降低成本，從而使他們對客戶來說更具成本效益。它為每個人帶來價值。

So it's a win for us. It's a win for all those three primes in my example, and it's a win for the government. So in turbo jets and turbo fans for cruise missiles, loitering munitions, and powered munitions, we are moving down the path on that.

所以這對我們來說是一場勝利。在我的例子中，這是所有這三個素數的勝利，也是政府的勝利。因此，在用於巡航飛彈、巡飛彈藥和動力彈藥的渦輪噴射發動機和渦輪風扇方面，我們正在沿著這條道路前進。

You saw with the announcement that Boeing made on power JDAM. As you know, I've talked about before, we're designed in on six different systems. Several of which are going to be in production, I think, by the end of this year and this will be a meaningful revenue driver for us in 2025. And we have clarity on this with the programs. That's number one.

您已經看到波音公司在動力 JDAM 上發布的公告。如您所知，我之前談過，我們是在六種不同的系統上設計的。我認為，其中幾款將於今年底投入生產，這將成為我們 2025 年有意義的收入驅動力。我們透過計劃清楚地了解了這一點。這是第一名。

Number two is our hypersonic stacks. So I mentioned today, the Oriole Terrier stack that launched the French payload that just became public. Okay. We do that all the time for a lot of different customers; it's just not announced. With the Zeus motors coming, these can go faster, farther with heavier payloads in certain places at the right time, at the right speed, the right place.

第二是我們的高超音速堆疊。所以我今天提到了 Oriole Terrier 堆棧，它啟動了剛剛公開的法國有效負載。好的。我們一直為許多不同的客戶這樣做；只是沒有宣布而已。隨著宙斯引擎的到來，這些引擎可以在正確的時間、正確的速度、正確的地點在某些地方以更重的有效載荷行駛得更快、更遠。

Okay. We do that for the government and we do that for the primes. So we are way down the line on that. And since we are orders of magnitude less costly than anybody else out there, including some of these up-and-comers who think they're going to get into the area, okay, we can test, test, test and test multiple times within a budget for our customer, whether it be the government or prime because our price points are so low.

好的。我們為政府這樣做，為總理這樣做。所以我們在這方面已經走得很遠了。由於我們的成本比其他任何人都要低幾個數量級，包括一些認為自己將進入該領域的後起之秀，好吧，我們可以在短時間內進行多次測試、測試、測試和測試為我們的客戶提供預算，無論是政府還是優質客戶，因為我們的價格都非常低。

So stacks for hypersonic systems, ballistic missile targets, and sub-orbital vehicles, which as you know, we can't talk about on this line. So that's right behind the turbojets and turbofans.

因此，高超音速系統、彈道飛彈目標和亞軌道飛行器的堆疊，如您所知，我們不能在這條線上討論。所以它就在渦輪噴射發動機和渦輪風扇發動機之後。

The next one obviously is microwave electronics; we're a merchant supplier there. That's what we do. Our primary customers are Rafael, Israeli Aerospace Industry, which are the Lockheed, the Raytheon in the north of Israel. We're going to build that out there and we're building that out in the US.

下一個顯然是微波電子。我們是那裡的商業供應商。這就是我們所做的。我們的主要客戶是以色列航空航太工業公司Rafael，即以色列北部的洛克希德公司、雷神公司。我們將在那裡建立它，我們將在美國建立它。

And drones. And drones is one where we absolutely are going to continue to be the prime or our probability of win. And the investment thesis for us is manageable and we will partner with our team. They are big prime teammates and we have a few of them that are very close with us where it increases the probability of win. It reduces our risk and our financial contribution.

還有無人機。無人機是我們絕對將繼續成為主要領域或我們獲勝的可能性的領域。我們的投資主題是可控的，我們將與我們的團隊合作。他們是重要的隊友，我們有一些人與我們關係非常密切，這增加了獲勝的可能性。它降低了我們的風險和財務貢獻。

And we think if we're going to get a big part of something instead of potentially all of nothing. And you'll see the drone impacts this year, the rocket motors, we're definitely going to get some of those this year. So you're going to see those sales this year and they'll ramp into '25. So that's how I see it.

我們想，如果我們想要得到某樣東西的大部分，而不是一無所有。今年你會看到無人機的影響，火箭發動機，我們今年肯定會得到其中的一些。所以你今年會看到這些銷售，並且會在 25 世紀增加。我就是這麼看的。

That's great. And if I could, as you think about these markets, you obviously are positioned in some of the faster-growing markets. But what's your view on just high-level defense spending or investment spending in not just '24, but over the next couple of years? And to what extent is sort of a flattish budget, if that's the situation we're in, a risk to the timing on some of these programs?

那太棒了。如果可以的話，當您考慮這些市場時，您顯然處於一些成長較快的市場。但您對 24 年以及未來幾年的高水準國防支出或投資支出有何看法？如果我們所處的情況是這樣的話，那麼預算持平在多大程度上會對其中一些項目的時機構成風險？

Yes. So obviously, I'm the CEO. I drink the Kool-Aid. I like Senator Wicker. He wants a 5% defense budget. He wants a trillion dollars defense budget; I level. And I personally believe that with the threat environment out there that we have, threats aren't going down. They're increasing every day.

是的。顯然，我是執行長。我喝酷愛飲料。我喜歡威克參議員。他想要5%的國防預算。他想要一兆美元的國防預算；我水平。我個人認為，在我們現有的威脅環境下，威脅不會減少。他們每天都在增加。

This is something both parties are going to convalescent around. But let's say that I'm wrong, right? Low cost is going to win the game. Afford those top drones, affordability, affordable mass.

這是雙方都要緩和的事。但我們可以說我錯了，對嗎？低成本將贏得比賽。買得起那些頂級無人機，價格實惠，品質實惠。

The Mitchell Institute -- they work with the Air Force -- came out with a report last week. If you guys haven't seen it, I encourage you to see it. They said we cannot afford exquisite drones en masse. The only way we can defeat certain adversaries is with large quantities of low-cost drones that are rail launched, that are air launched, that are attritable, et cetera, to get quantities, which is cost.

與空軍合作的米切爾研究所上週發布了一份報告。如果你們還沒看過，我鼓勵你們去看一下。他們說我們買不起大量精美的無人機。我們擊敗某些對手的唯一方法是使用大量低成本無人機，這些無人機可以透過軌道發射、空中發射、可消耗等等，以獲得數量，這就是成本。

So in a tightening budget environment for our engines, our turbojets and turbofans, for our hypersonic vehicles, and our rocket systems, for our drones, I think that just increases Kratos's winning hand because of our affordability thesis.

因此，在我們的發動機、渦輪噴氣發動機和渦輪風扇發動機、高超音速飛行器、火箭系統、無人機的預算緊縮的環境中，我認為，由於我們的負擔能力理論，這只會增加奎托斯的勝算。

Thanks, Eric, for all the color.

謝謝埃里克提供的所有顏色。

Pete Skibitski, Alembic Global.

Pete Skibitski，Alembic Global。

Yes. Good afternoon, guys. Couple of questions on EBITDA margins, Eric, I'm just wondering if you are sub on one of these large tactical drone programs, at least maybe CCA, Replicator. How are you guys thinking about the economics on those as a sub?

是的。下午好，夥計們。關於 EBITDA 利潤率的幾個問題，Eric，我只是想知道您是否參與了這些大型戰術無人機專案之一，至少可能是 CCA、Replicator。你們如何看待這些替補的經濟性？

I think last year, unmanned EBITDA margins were 7%. Probably target drones are above that. In a sub position, if you get enough numbers, can you get to double digits in terms of EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margins? Or are we going to stick in this range even as a sub?

我認為去年無人值守的 EBITDA 利潤率為 7%。目標無人機可能高於此。在次級職位上，如果你獲得足夠的數字，你的 EBITDA、調整後 EBITDA 利潤率能否達到兩位數？或者即使作為替補，我們也會堅持這個範圍嗎？

Yes. So in the tactical drone area, either as a prime or a sub right now, we are going to be in that range because their development programs. In development programs, the margin rates are less.

是的。因此，在戰術無人機領域，無論是作為主力無人機還是副無人機，我們都將處於這個範圍內，因為他們的開發計畫。在開發案中，保證金率較低。

You're exactly right what you said on the target drones. And the target drones, we have multiple drones in multiple stages of full rate production, and that's where you come down the learning curve. You have to share part of that with the government, of course, but you can make low- to mid-teen margins. And internationally, in target drones, you can make much higher because it's international.

你對目標無人機所說的完全正確。至於目標無人機，我們有多架無人機處於全速生產的多個階段，這就是您學習曲線的地方。當然，你必須與政府分享一部分，但你可以賺取低至中青少年的利潤。在國際上，在目標無人機方面，你可以賺得更高，因為它是國際性的。

So back to the tactical part of your question, I don't think there's going to be any difference, or if it is, it's going to be around the edges on margins on these -- I know it and develop it because we are what we are. We're a prime in development on some; we're partner with some other people and others in development.

回到你問題的戰術部分，我認為不會有任何區別，或者如果有的話，也會在這些方面處於邊緣狀態——我知道這一點並發展它，因為我們就是這樣的我們是。我們在某些​​方面處於領先地位；我們與其他一些人和其他人合作開發。

We know what the margins are; they're similar. And I envision it being the exact same once we get into full rate production. It will not be a different stuff.

我們知道利潤是多少；他們很相似。我預計一旦我們進入全速生產，情況就會完全相同。它不會是不同的東西。

You're saying even in full rate production, the margins will be the same net-net?

您是說即使在全速生產下，利潤率也會保持不變？

No.

不。

No.

不。

No. On full-rate production, we would expect the margins to expand. What he's saying is in development, we would expect those margins to be similar to the production that the development rates that we would see on the target side --

不。在全速生產方面，我們預期利潤率將會擴大。他所說的是開發中，我們預計這些利潤率將與我們在目標方面看到的開發率相似--

Got it.

知道了。

-- that would get to production. We would expect to see some expansion.

——這將進入生產階段。我們預計會看到一些擴張。

Okay. So maybe like three years out, we're talking there is a path. Yeah, okay. I appreciate it. Similar question just on -- so my question on space. I guess you guys talked about the inflection in '25, and it sounds like maybe you're looking for some margin expansion there, partially on production, higher deliveries.

好的。所以也許三年後，我們會說有一條路。好的。我很感激。類似的問題剛出現——所以我的問題是關於空間的。我想你們談到了 25 年的拐點，聽起來你們可能正在尋求利潤率的擴張，部分是在生產和更高的交付量上。

But you guys have been investing a lot in open space and we see it hit KGS margin periodically. I'm just wondering, in 2025, should we anticipate R&D that you are spending on open space to decline meaningfully? Or is that going to be kind of steady state and it's more so we anticipate deliveries increasing?

但你們在開放空間上投入了大量資金，我們看到它定期觸及 KGS 利潤。我只是想知道，到 2025 年，我們是否應該預期你們在開放空間上的研發支出會大幅下降？或者這將是一種穩定狀態，我們預計交付量會增加？

Right. I would not expect it to decline, but I would definitely expect deliveries to increase and the software content of the ground infrastructure to increase, which inherently brings higher margins. That's how I would look at it. It's a hybrid software model where you need continuing sustained R&D to refresh and expand the product portfolio, bring it to the customer to stay ahead of your competitors.

正確的。我預計它不會下降，但我肯定預計交付量會增加，地面基礎設施的軟體內容也會增加，這本質上會帶來更高的利潤。我就是這麼看的。這是一種混合軟體模型，您需要持續不斷的研發來更新和擴展產品組合，將其帶給客戶以保持領先於競爭對手的優勢。

Got it. Okay. So that R&D will stay steady state. But as long as the market's hot, you'll have these opportunities for deliveries to be higher. Okay.

知道了。好的。使研發保持穩定狀態。但只要市場火爆，您就有機會獲得更高的交付量。好的。

Yes. As long as we penetrate that total addressable market we see, we should be in good shape. Yes, sir.

是的。只要我們滲透到我們所看到的整個潛在市場，我們就應該處於良好的狀態。是的先生。

Got it. Thanks so much, guys.

知道了。非常感謝，夥計們。

Yes, sir.

是的先生。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Joe Gomes, Noble Capital.

喬·戈麥斯，貴族資本。

Thank you. Good afternoon and congrats on the quarter.

謝謝。下午好，恭喜本季。

Hey, Joe, good afternoon.

嘿，喬，下午好。

So I just wanted to start on the tactical side there for a second. I saw that Australia's investing another $260 million in the Ghost Bat. I'm just wondering what you see on the competitive side there on tactical.

所以我只想從戰術方面開始。我看到澳洲又投資了2.6億美元給幽靈蝙蝠。我只是想知道你在戰術方面對競技的看法。

So you asked the question. So yeah, Australia is going to pay $260 million in US, AUD400 million for three more Ghost Bats. So obviously that is a much different model than Kratos's model. We were paid for three Valkyries. The first three initial Valkyries was like $40 million.

所以你問了這個問題。所以，是的，澳洲將向美國支付 2.6 億美元，即 4 億澳元，購買另外三隻幽靈蝙蝠。顯然，這與奎托斯的模型有很大不同。我們得到了三名女武神的報酬。最初的三部《女武神》售價約 4000 萬美元。

So it's a different paradigm.

所以這是一個不同的範式。

With a cost share.

費用分攤。

Yes. It's a different paradigm, Joe. We are focused on affordability, effectiveness, affordability, rapid development, get things flying. That model is just different, and I don't focus on it.

是的。這是一個不同的範式，喬。我們專注於可負擔性、有效性、可負擔性、快速發展、讓事情快速發展。那個模型只是不同，我不關注它。

Okay. And then outside of the open space, which obviously it's growing nicely there with some of the recent awards you've talked about. What else are you -- can you talk about projects that aren't impacted by the CR?

好的。然後是在開放空間之外，顯然它在那裡發展得很好，最近獲得了一些你談到的獎項。你還能做什麼——你能談談不受 CR 影響的專案嗎？

Historically, you've talked a little bit about wireless trucks. Just trying to get a little better sense of what else is out there that you're very excited about that we don't have to do (multiple speakers) with the new CR.

從歷史上看，您已經談論過一些無線卡車。只是想更了解還有哪些讓您感到非常興奮的東西，而我們不必用新的 CR 來做（多個發言者）。

Good question. So 30% of our business is not DoD. So for example, our Israeli business, microwave electronics, $80 million, $90 million in revenue. Totally unrelated to the federal government, US federal government budget.

好問題。所以我們 30% 的業務不屬於國防部。例如，我們以色列的微波電子業務，8000萬美元，9000萬美元的收入。與聯邦政府、美國聯邦政府預算完全無關。

As I mentioned earlier, that business is ripping for the terrible reason. It's ripping. That's going to do great. Contracts like with Intelsat, commercial satellite operators, JSAT. I could go down the list. MonacoSAT. They're not impacted.

正如我之前提到的，該業務由於可怕的原因而陷入困境。正在撕裂。那會做得很好。與 Intelsat、商業衛星營運商、JSAT 等簽訂的合約。我可以順著清單往下看。摩納哥衛星公司。他們不受影響。

And we're seeing growth in the commercial satellite area. In our engine area, as you know, we're building engines for -- we're under NDAs -- think of virtually every new space company, we are involved in their engines. Okay. That is not seeing an issue.

我們看到商業衛星領域的成長。正如你所知，在我們的引擎領域，我們正在為幾乎所有新的航太公司製造引擎——我們正在簽署保密協議——我們參與了他們的引擎。好的。那不是看到問題。

Target drones. Internationally, and you see what's going on in the world, people are buying for short range, surface-to-air missile systems. They're buying Patriots. They all need to be exercised against target drones. They're typically exercised against ours.

目標無人機。在國際上，你可以看到世界上正在發生的事情，人們正在購買短程地對空飛彈系統。他們正在購買愛國者隊。它們都需要針對目標無人機進行演習。他們通常是針對我們的。

So international target drone business is not tied to the federal budget. So we've got a really good hedge. And typically internationally, we make higher margins than in the US because international customers will pay more for the US dollar.

因此，國際目標無人機業務與聯邦預算無關。所以我們有一個非常好的對沖。通常在國際上，我們的利潤率高於美國，因為國際客戶願意為美元支付更多費用。

And so we've got a pretty good hedge, which is why as of right now, we're staying with our 10% target for 2024. Because that non-DoD business looks really good right now. And why Deanna and I both said, God willing, we'll have a budget by March 8. But if we don't, we'll revisit it and see what the portfolio looks like. And if we need to update, we will.

因此，我們有相當好的對沖，這就是為什麼截至目前，我們仍堅持 2024 年 10% 的目標。因為非國防部業務現在看起來非常好。為什麼迪安娜和我都說，上帝保佑，我們將在 3 月 8 日之前製定預算。但如果我們不這樣做，我們會重新審視它，看看投資組合是什麼樣的。如果我們需要更新，我們會的。

Great. Thank you for taking the question.

偉大的。感謝您提出問題。

Yes, sir. Thank you.

是的先生。謝謝。

Sheila Kahyaoglu, Jefferies.

希拉·卡哈奧格魯，杰弗里斯。

Thank you. Hey, Eric. Hey, Deanna. Thank you for taking the time. So much has been asked already, but I just wanted to kind of maybe put it all into context, if that's possible.

謝謝。嘿，艾瑞克。嘿，迪安娜。感謝您抽出時間。已經問了很多，但如果可能的話，我只是想把所有這些都放在上下文中。

Eric, you could hear me, right? Just double checking.

艾瑞克，你聽得到我說話，對吧？只需仔細檢查即可。

Yes.

是的。

So maybe if you could just talk about KGS versus KUS in 2024 and the growth profile of each. KGS has been growing pretty nicely. Do we continue to see that outperform? And you rank -- maybe if you could just simply rank order the subsegments of where you see the highest growth there just to start.

那麼，也許您可以談談 2024 年 KGS 與 KUS 的比較以及各自的成長概況。KGS 發展得相當不錯。我們會繼續看到其表現優於大盤嗎？然後你進行排名——也許你可以簡單地對你看到的成長最快的細分市場進行排名，然後你就可以開始了。

Right, right. So to level set the biggest growth segment we're going to have right now for 2024 is going to be our unmanned systems business. The drones across the portfolio are doing great. And if we get a budget, we could actually beat those numbers in the drone area.

是的是的。因此，為了確定 2024 年我們目前最大的成長領域將是我們的無人系統業務。該產品組合中的無人機表現出色。如果我們得到預算，我們實際上可以在無人機領域擊敗這些數字。

All right. So in KGS, I'll let Deanna touch on those. Keeping in mind that our space business will be one of the lowest ones because it's impacted the most by the CRA.

好的。所以在 KGS 中，我會讓 Deanna 談談這些。請記住，我們的太空業務將是最低的業務之一，因為它受 CRA 的影響最大。

Yes. So as Eric had mentioned, the space business, which is our largest, is impacted by the CRA. So that is -- and what Seth brought up, we were expecting about a 6% and we're forecasting about a 6% organic growth across KGS with space being a big portion of that at lower than that 6%. So that would indicate that there are pieces that are growing greater than that rate, which would be our C5ISR business or turbine business, our microwave electronics business

是的。正如埃里克（Eric）所提到的，我們最大的航太業務受到 CRA 的影響。這就是 Seth 提出的，我們預計 KGS 的有機成長約為 6%，其中太空業務佔其中很大一部分，成長率低於 6%。因此，這表明有些業務的成長速度高於該速度，這將是我們的 C5ISR 業務或渦輪機業務、我們的微波電子業務

Really across the board, most of the businesses within KGS, with the exception of the space business for all the reasons we've talked about. Since we expect to see to really see that growth come in play in 2025 as we move on to production on a number of the programs that we've been working on.

確實是全面的，KGS 內的大部分業務（出於我們已經討論過的所有原因的航太業務除外）。因為我們預計到 2025 年，隨著我們一直在進行的一些項目投入生產，成長將真正發揮作用。

Okay. Understood. And then maybe if you could talk about the pipeline. It stepped up $700 million sequentially. Just given some of the recent news with CCA and things like that and you're partnering with folks, maybe can you give us some moving pieces of the pipeline at all?

好的。明白了。然後也許您可以談談管道。它連續增加了 7 億美元。剛剛了解了 CCA 的一些最新消息以及類似的事情，並且您正在與人們合作，也許您能給我們一些管道中令人感動的部分嗎？

Actually, from our pipeline perspective, the big increase is not in our unmanned systems business. It's across a number of our businesses within KGS, in our C5 business, in our turbine business, in our microwave business.

實際上，從我們的管道來看，大幅成長的並不是我們的無人系統業務。它涉及我們 KGS 內的許多業務，包括我們的 C5 業務、渦輪機業務和微波業務。

Sheila, the engine business, in particular, the pipeline is incredible right now. Made-in-the-USA engines, turbojets, turbofans, rocket engines, liquid and solid. We're seeing incredible demand there in engines. That's probably the strongest grower for us from a pipeline standpoint. Microwave electronics is incredibly strong. It grows literally every week as ordinances expanded.

希拉，發動機業務，特別是管道現在令人難以置信。美國製造的發動機、渦輪噴射發動機、渦輪風扇發動機、火箭發動機，液體和固體。我們看到那裡對引擎的需求令人難以置信。從管道的角度來看，這可能是我們最強大的種植者。微波電子學非常強大。隨著法令的擴大，它每週都在增長。

As Deanna mentioned, in the C5ISR business, I've been through the programs before. We have a number of programs: IBCS, [IFPIK], SHORAD, all of which are moving into production. So those pipelines are now moving from development to production, which increases the pipeline that were designed in.

正如 Deanna 所提到的，在 C5ISR 業務中，我之前已經完成過這些計劃。我們有許多計劃：IBCS、[IFPIK]、SHORAD，所有這些都正在投入生產。因此，這些管道現在正從開發轉向生產，這增加了設計的管道。

So the KGS business, our training business, we built training systems for weapons systems. Weapon systems are back en vogue. So our training systems business pipeline is giant. It's very big and its growth is one of the strongest in the company '24 over '23.

因此，KGS 業務，我們的培訓業務，我們為武器系統建立了培訓系統。武器系統又重新流行起來。因此，我們的培訓系統業務管道非常龐大。它規模很大，是自 24 世紀 23 世紀以來成長最快的公司之一。

As well as our space business as well. I don't think I mentioned that before. The pipeline is up also in our space business.

我們的太空業務也是如此。我想我之前沒有提到過這一點。我們的太空業務也在籌備中。

Okay. And then last question for me. Obviously, CapEx jumped up $20 million year over year. Do we think about that as a normalized rate? Or is it just given what's going on with Valkyrie and migrate products?

好的。然後是我的最後一個問題。顯然，資本支出比去年同期增加了 2000 萬美元。我們是否將其視為標準化利率？或者只是考慮到 Valkyrie 和遷移產品的情況？

It goes through all the investment areas that Eric talked about in the growth areas that we're investing into. It's across the board. It's in our microwave business. It's Valkyries that were continued build. That's about $20 million.

它涵蓋了埃里克在我們正在投資的成長領域中談到的所有投資領域。這是全面的。這是我們的微波爐業務。這是繼續建造的瓦爾基里。這大約是2000萬美元。

But it's also building out some of the -- our space network and satellite network that we company own, as well as the center of -- the manufacturing center of excellence for our turbine engine business. So it's really investments that we're making in 2024. Some of it might continue in '25, but not at that -- we don't anticipate at that level.

但它也正在建造我們公司擁有的一些太空網絡和衛星網絡，以及我們渦輪發動機業務的卓越製造中心。所以這確實是我們在 2024 年所進行的投資。其中一些可能會在 25 年繼續，但不會達到那個水平——我們預計不會達到那個水平。

Okay.

好的。

Yes, I would not say it's recurring.

是的，我不會說它會重複出現。

Sure. Thanks.

當然。謝謝。

Thank you. I would now like to turn the call back over to Eric DeMarco for closing remarks. Sir?

謝謝。我現在想將電話轉回給埃里克·德馬科（Eric DeMarco），讓其致閉幕詞。先生？

Excellent. Thank you all for joining us and for the Q&A session. We'll touch base with you when we report Q1 in a few months. Have a good day.

出色的。感謝大家加入我們並參加問答環節。當我們在幾個月後報告第一季時，我們將與您聯繫。祝你有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。