KBR, Inc.

One of its first large-scale projects, according to the book Cadillac Desert, was building a dam on the Texas Colorado River near Austin during the Depression years. For assistance in federal payments, the company turned to the local Congressman, Lyndon Johnson. Brown & Root was the principal source of campaign funds after Johnson's initial run for Congress in 1937, in return for persuading the Bureau of Reclamation to change its rules against paying for a dam on land the federal government did not own, a decision that had to go all the way to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After other very profitable construction projects for the federal government, Brown & Root gave massive sums of cash for Johnson's first run for the U.S. Senate in 1941.

During World War II, Brown & Root built the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and its subsidiary Brown Shipbuilding produced a series of warships for the U.S. government. In 1947 Brown & Root built one of the world's first offshore oil platforms.

According to Tracy Kidder's book Mountains Beyond Mountains, Brown & Root was a contractor in the Péligre Dam project. The project was designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and financed by the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

Halliburton years

Following the death of Herman Brown, Halliburton Energy Services acquired Brown & Root in December 1962. According to Dan Briody, who wrote a book on the subject, the company became part of a consortium called RMK-BRJ that built about 85 percent of the infrastructure needed by the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. In 1967, the Government Accounting Office alleged that Brown & Root had been unaccountable with public funds and allowed materials to be stolen. Donald Rumsfeld expressed concern that their contracts were not adequately audited. At this time, protesters derided Brown & Root as a symbol of war profiteering, dubbing the company "Burn & Loot".

In 1989, Halliburton acquired another major engineering and construction contractor, C. F. Braun Inc., of Alhambra California, and merged it into Brown & Root. From 1995 to 2002, Halliburton KBR was awarded at least $2.5 billion to construct and run military bases, some in secret locations, as part of the U.S. Army's Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP).

In September 2005, under a competitive bid contract it won in July 2005 to provide debris removal and other emergency work associated with natural disasters, KBR started assessment of the cleanup and reconstruction of Gulf Coast Marine and Navy facilities damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The facilities include: Naval Station Pascagoula, Naval Station Gulfport, the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, two smaller U.S. Navy facilities in New Orleans, Louisiana, and others in the Gulf Coast region.

Formation of KBR, Inc.

Halliburton announced on April 5, 2007, that it had separated from KBR, which had been its contracting, engineering, and construction unit as a part of the company for 44 years. On November 16, 2006, KBR shares were offered for the public in an initial public offering with shares priced at $17. The shares closed up more than 22 percent to $20.75 a share on the first trading day.

Growth

In May 2019, the company introduced new branding. At the end of 2023, KBR released KCap, a decarbonization technology offered in partnership with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), India.

As of 2024, the company supports various NASA programs, educational institutions, international partner space agencies, and commercial partners.

Spin-off of Mission Technology Solutions business as Trinzic

In September 2025, KBR’s board of directors approved the spin-off of the company’s government services division, Mission Technology Solutions (MTS). MTS is set to become a new, independent publicly-traded company on January 4, 2027. After the spinoff, the company's sustainable technology business will continue to operate as KBR.

In June 2026, Michael LaRouche was named President and CEO and Nicholas Veasey was named Executive Vice President and CFO of the spin-off. On July 30, 2026, KBR announced the new company would operate under the name Trinzic.

In 2026, KBR opened an Innovation Studio in Bengaluru, India, in partnership with Applied Computing. The facility supports industrial artificial intelligence applications, remote monitoring, and advisory services using KBR's INSITE 3.0 platform and Applied Computing's Orbital system, for clients in the energy and industrial sectors and to expand KBR's digital capabilities in industrial operations.

Aerospace Environment Protection Lab

KBR's Aerospace Environment Protection Lab is in San Antonio. It was previously the Brooks Air Force Base. The lab is used for intensive training of United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aviators. It includes "the pit," which houses a centrifuge that simulates high G-forces; altitude chambers used for training deep space pilots or astronauts; and hyperbaric chambers used to help the body heal and fight infections. It also houses the Panama Chamber, which is the oldest known dive chamber in the world. It was used during the construction of the Panama Canal.

Digital Engineering Lab

In May 2025, KBR opened its new Digital Engineering Lab in Dayton, Ohio. At the lab, KBR and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base leadership plan, design, and test various systems for Air Force and military customers. The lab allows for the creation of prototype digital twins and uses KBR's “Game” simulation design tool to test designs before fabrication.

Sustainable technologies

KBR licenses PureSAF technology, a sustainable aviation fuel technology developed by Swedish Biofuels.

In 2023, KBR was awarded a design and engineering contract from The Chemours Company to “increase and advance” technology for its membrane technology to support the hydrogen economy.

In 2024, KBR was selected to provide project management services for the design and construction of a refinery in Lobito, Benguela Province. It was also selected by First State Hydrogen, Inc. to support the "feasibility and development" of its first clean hydrogen production facility in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region.

In September 2024, KTJV, a KBR and Technip Energies joint venture, received a contract to convert an existing natural gas import regasification terminal to a liquefied gas export plant.

In 2026, PureSAF was selected for proposed commercial-scale facilities in Latvia, Singapore and Kazakhstan, including a planned 100,000-ton-per-year facility in Singapore and Kazakhstan's first SAF production plant.

Sustainable technology & decarbonization

In the 2020s and early 2024, KBR announced multiple sustainable technology, decarbonization, and low-carbon projects worldwide. Some of these include:

Ammonia Technology Projects

KazAzot (Kazakhstan): KBR’s ammonia technology was selected for what is described as the country’s first world-scale fertilizer complex.

Shell Blue Horizons (Oman): Shell selected KBR’s “blue ammonia” technology for the Blue Horizons project, supporting hydrogen and ammonia production in Oman.

AMUFERT (Angola): KBR’s ammonia technology was adopted for a major nitrogen-fertilizer production facility in Angola.

Refining and Petrochemicals

Zhejiang Petroleum (China): KBR’s Residuum Oil Supercritical Extraction (ROSE) technology was chosen for what is reported as the largest solvent deasphalting (SDA) unit in China.

Sabic Fujian Petrochemicals: KBR’s phenol technology was selected by Sabic Fujian for a petrochemical project in Fujian Province, China.

Sustainable Aviation Fuels

Avina (U.S.): KBR entered into a front-end engineering and design (FEED) and technology licensing agreement with Avina for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) technology.

Propylene Oxide

Sumitomo Chemical Alliance: KBR and Sumitomo Chemical formed a technology licensing alliance to develop more sustainable methods of producing propylene oxide.

Lithium Extraction

GeoLith Alliance: KBR and GeoLith entered an exclusive alliance to globally license a proprietary direct-lithium-extraction (DLE) technology that aims to reduce emissions and water usage.

Space technology

In 1968, KBR was awarded a contract to conduct cardiovascular health research on astronauts.

The company announced on November 7, 2017, that KBR secured a contract to provide astronaut medical support services for the European Space Agency's European Astronaut Center Space Medicine Office in Cologne, Germany.

Scientists and engineers working for KBR contributed to the development and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope, which launched in 2022, as part of various Mechanical Integration Services and Technology contracts.

In 2024, KBR was awarded a U.S. Navy contract for the continued development of space science instrument systems at the Naval Research Lab (NRL). The focus of the contract was on the “design, development, analysis, fabrication, inspection, assembly, integration, testing, and documentation of sophisticated space science instruments and experimental payloads.”

For over a decade, KBR worked with the U.S. government on a space domain awareness platform called Iron Stallion. The platform tracks everything in space, runs predictive models on where assets are supposed to be, and flags users when that is not the case. As of June 2024, the platform was in a cloud environment, converted for commercial use. It had been sold to the U.K. and Australia.

In October 2021, KBR purchased UK and Australian systems, engineering and technology company Frazer-Nash Consultancy from Babcock International Group for a reported £293 million.

In 2022, KBR acquired the UK-based VIMA Group, a digital transformation technology company.

In July 2024, KBR agreed to acquire LinQuest Corp., a specialist in national security space systems. The purchase was finalized in September. It set KBR up as one of the largest support contractors for the Space Force's Space Systems Command, based in Los Angeles, CA. LinQuest was merged into KBR's Government Solutions segment and Defense and Intel business unit.

Human trafficking lawsuit

On August 28, 2008, KBR and a Jordanian subcontractor were accused of human trafficking in a federal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles. The suit alleged that 13 Nepali men were recruited by Daoud & Partners to work in hotels and restaurants in Jordan, but upon arrival, all 13 men had their passports seized by the contractor and were sent to Iraq to work on the Al Asad Airbase. Twelve of the employees were abducted when their unprotected convoy was attacked by a group calling itself the Army of Ansar al-Sunna, while en route to the base. Shortly thereafter, a video was released of one of the men being beheaded and the other 11 shot. The remaining employee, Buddi Prasad Gurung, claims to have been held against his will for 15 months, during which time he was forced to work at the base. Reuters quoted attorney Matthew Handley as saying, "It doesn't appear that any of them knew they were going to Iraq." KBR made no public comment on the lawsuit, but released a statement which stated in part that it "in no way condones or tolerates unethical or illegal behavior."

In 2017, a U.S. appeals court refused to hold KBR liable for alleged human trafficking in connection with the 2004 kidnapping and murder by insurgents of 12 Nepali men. The men were being transported in Iraq to work for a subcontractor at a U.S. military base. This rule upheld a lower court judge's 2014 dismissal of civil claims against KBR by surviving family members and a Nepali worker who was not captured. However, the only reason the case was dismissed was because of a lack of sufficient connection with the U.S.

"Burn pits" lawsuits

Alan Metzgar et al v. KBR Inc. are a collection of lawsuits from plaintiffs who said they developed respiratory illnesses, neurological disorders, cancer, and skin diseases from living and working near open-air burn pits operated by KBR in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2013, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed the suits. However, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed and sent the litigation back to court in early 2014. KBR maintained that it did not operate the primary burn pit mentioned in the suits and said that other environmental factors in combat zones could have contributed to troop health problems.

Questionable charges

In December 2008, the Senate Armed Services Committee requested an investigation into Kellogg Brown and Root because of accusations from a retired Army official, Charles M. Smith, who had managed the company’s work in Iraq. He alleged that

KBR lacked credible records to support more than $200 million in spending. A KBR spokeswoman said that the company would cooperate with any government investigation.

Shell companies in Cayman Islands

According to the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in 2008, KBR had two subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands that were used to reduce the company's tax payments. CBS News reported that this was legal, and a practice of many contractors, but that lawmakers wanted to end the practice.

Bribing Nigerian officials

KBR admitted to paying bribes to high-ranking Nigerian officials between 1994 and 2004 to secure contracts to build and expand Nigeria's Bonny Island liquefied natural gas terminal. KBR and Halliburton paid a $402 million fine to the U.S. Justice Department, of which Halliburton paid $382 million. In a separate settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Halliburton paid $177 million in profits to settle charges that KBR had violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Former CEO Albert Jackson Stanley, who ran KBR when it was a subsidiary to Halliburton, was sentenced to 30 months in prison via plea agreement.

Waxman allegations

KBR was accused of inflating prices for importing gasoline into Iraq. At the time KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton, and Halliburton reported that the allegations distorted the truth.

Professional negligence

The case Harris v. KBR Inc. is a lawsuit over the death of Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth who was electrocuted while taking a shower in Baghdad in 2008. The suit was filed by Maseth’s mother. She alleged that poor electrical work and maintenance on the part of KBR caused the death because the water pump in the shower was not grounded. In 2013, a trial judge made the decision to dismiss the case, but the decision was overturned by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. KBR counsel Mark Lowes said that the company "warned the Army that existing buildings in Iraq posed danger to troops and there was no evidence KBR installed the pump."

Employee safety in warzones

As of June 9, 2008, 81 American and foreign KBR employees and subcontractors have been killed, and more than 380 have been wounded by hostile action while performing services under the company's government contracts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. Family members of injured or killed employees have sued the company in relation to the 2004 Iraq KBR convoy ambush.

Late payment

In the UK in April 2019, Kellogg Brown & Root was suspended from the UK Government's Prompt Payment Code for failing to pay suppliers on time.

Employment Dispute

On September 16, 2022, the Philippine Department of Migrant Workers Secretary, Susan Ople, confirmed a Washington Post report that 800 Filipino workers were stuck at a remote US military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean due to an employment dispute with KBR. DMW Ople reported, “They are stranded in the sense that they can't go on vacation. They are afraid that if they go home to the Philippines, the POEA won't let them come back, or they'll be fired from work.” KBR said that the Filipino workers were able to take military flights to Japan and Bahrain, and that KBR then covered the cost of their onward travel to the Philippines.