WASHINGTON — Following its acquisition of LinQuest, KBR’s specialized national security workforce will now grow to 3,000 personnel, with a substantial portion possessing high-level clearances and space program expertise.
KBR, a global engineering and services firm, earlier this week closed a $737 million acquisition of LinQuest, a defense and space support services contractor with a large number of cleared workers and secure facilities. KBR, with a global workforce of 36,000, will absorb LinQuest’s 1,500 employees into its national security business.
The combination positions KBR to meet the U.S. military’s growing demand for classified space programs, Thomas “Jay” Lennon, KBR’s senior vice president of national security solutions, said in an interview with SpaceNews.
The deal, finalized on Sept. 3, comes at a time when the Pentagon and intelligence agencies are increasingly seeking contractors with secure facilities and personnel cleared to work on sensitive projects, particularly in key regions like Los Angeles and Colorado Springs, where both the U.S. Space Force and intelligence agencies are ramping up operations.
“The need for both classified facilities and classified expertise was critical to our decision to pursue the LinQuest acquisition,” said Lennon.
Growth in classified work
The acquisition will increase KBR’s specialized national security workforce to 3,000 personnel, with a significant portion possessing expertise in space programs, he said. “In the space domain, the classification levels very rapidly increase.”
KBR is now poised to become one of the largest support contractors for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, based in Los Angeles. LinQuest recently won a $562 million contract to provide engineering and integration support for military satellite communications systems.
Despite efforts to declassify some military space programs, a significant number of programs are likely to remain highly secret. This trend is evident in the recent U.S. Space Force and U.S. Space Command budget submission, which included $2.3 billion in “unfunded requirements,” primarily for classified programs focused on space control and domain awareness.
KBR’s expansion in the national security space sector began with its $800 million acquisition of Centauri in 2020. The company plans to connect its classified facilities with those of LinQuest, enhancing collaboration capabilities for government customers and contractors across multiple locations.
As geopolitical tensions rise, with countries like China and Russia developing anti-satellite weapons, the U.S. military is increasingly seeking technologies to protect its orbital assets. This shift is driving the rapid classification of space-related projects, Lennon noted.
“Everything in space right now seems to be getting classified very quickly because of the potential threats to our space assets and how critical they are to everything we do, not just for the military but for the global economy,” he said.
