“Look, our defense tech business has, as I said, $5 billion in awards year-to-date,” Bell told analysts. He said the total had reached $10 billion over the previous 18 months.
Bell made the comments during Leidos’ second-quarter 2026 earnings call on Aug. 4. He presented the award total as evidence of stronger momentum across the company’s defense-technology portfolio.
“That includes things like Common Hypersonic Glide Bodies, Army Macro II, Air Combat Command Intelligence, IFF PICP Mobile,” Bell said. He also cited “ALPS, our Wide Area Passive Sensor production.”
Management did not disclose the value of the individual awards. It also provided no delivery schedules or expected revenue contributions for the named programs.
“We also, if you look back 18 months, we’ve got $10 billion of awards in that business,” Bell said. “Very clear that momentum is moving.”
Leidos has also identified a $12 billion pipeline of defense-technology opportunities over the next 12 months. The pipeline includes follow-on work and potential new production contracts.
Bell identified the U.S. Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel and DDG(X) design work among those opportunities. He also cited possible contracts involving the company’s Small Cruise Missile and Low-Cost Containerized Munitions.
“We anticipate that there are opportunities for us in this pipeline for Small Cruise Missile,” Bell said. He also pointed to “LCCM production contracts.”
Counter-drone systems could provide another source of growth. Bell said Leidos has capabilities for detecting unmanned aircraft and producing non-kinetic effects against them.
“The $12 billion of pipelines we see over the next 12 months includes follow-on contracts, new contracts for production of materials that we’ve talked about before, and then perhaps things like our presence in the counter-UAS,” Bell said.
Leidos is expanding its workforce in Huntsville, Alabama, to support the expected increase in defense production. Employment there has risen 13% since the start of the year.
“We’ve grown that workforce by 13% from the beginning of this year, and 33% of that is manufacturing people,” Bell said. “Our defense tech business is something we’re leaning into and expecting to grow into the future.”
Chief Financial Officer Chris Cage said the broader Defense segment should post high-single-digit growth in 2026. Excluding the airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance business, Leidos expects double-digit growth.
“Defense growth will accelerate and post high single-digit growth for the year,” Cage said. Excluding airborne ISR, the segment “will grow double digits in 2026.”
