In a recent interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Alley,” Leidos CEO Roger Krone talked about the company’s strategies for sustaining growth. With three new programs and two new acquisitions in the pipeline, “we still have a lot of growth and a lot of momentum. It’s going to carry us into 2020,” he said.
Given that some of that work is still under protest, and in light of similar hiccups in the military’s so-called JEDI cloud award, Krone was asked about the current competitive climate.
“For right now, it’s all about partnering,” he said. “Our position is to be very close to the customer and help them accelerate their digital transformation, help them save money on the back end. And then we’re very agnostic as to who we go to as a cloud provider.”
He also addressed the company’s recent acquisition of Dynetics, whose portfolio includes hypersonic weapons, directed energy and swarming drones.
“Those technologies we saw in Dynetics are completely aligned with the national defense strategy,” Krone said. “I’d also like to point out that Dynetics started as a services company and they still have a large service component. We saw the move to Dynetics [as a way]to add more product portfolio to Leidos overall [while]still wanting to have a strong mix of services and some products.”
Overall, he offered a positive assessment of the current defense budget climate.
“They are spending more money on these emerging technologies, and that’s good news to Leidos,” Krone said.