A&D News

M&A

Shorehill Capital Portfolio Company Tribus Aerospace, LLC Acquires Midwest Precision, LLC
The company specializes in close tolerance CNC machining of all types of stainless steels, nickel alloys, titanium, aluminum, steel, brass and plastics in complex configurations.

Greenbriar Equity Group, L.P. and First Aviation Services, Inc. to Acquire DART Aerospace Ltd From Eagle Copters Ltd. and Era Group, Inc.
DART Aerospace is a provider of mission equipment and aftermarket components for the helicopter and fixed-wing industries. With over 900 STC’s and 4,500 products, DART offers a comprehensive portfolio of mission equipment and related services, replacement parts and tooling for civil and military operators, all major rotorcraft OEMs, completion centers and MRO facilities.

TransDigm Group, Inc. Completes Acquisition of Esterline Technologies Corp.
Esterline is an industry leader in specialized manufacturing with anticipated fiscal year 2018 revenue of approximately $2.0 billion. The company consists of 28 business units organized across eight platforms to deliver specialty aerospace, defense and industrial products. The company employs over 12,500 employees in more than 50 operating locations throughout the world.

CAE, Inc. Completes Acquisition of Bombardier, Inc.’s Business Aircraft Training (BAT) Business
The Bombardier BAT business includes a modern fleet of 12 full-flight simulators (FFSs) (including one deployment already planned for CAE’s fiscal year 2021) and training devices covering the Learjet, Challenger and Global product lines, including the latest large cabin Global 5500, 6500 and 7500 business jets.

DFW Capital Partners Acquires Controlling Equity Stake in Sev1Tech, LLC
Sev1Tech provides information technology, cybersecurity, cloud, and program management services and solutions to U.S. government agencies and major commercial organizations. Founded in 2010, Sev1Tech supports critical mission challenges across the defense, intelligence, homeland security, space, and health markets.

Cubic Corp. Acquires Nuvotronics, Inc.
Durham, N.C.-based Nuvotronics, Inc. is a disruptive technology provider of microfabricated radio frequency (RF) products. The cornerstone of Nuvotronics’ innovation platform is their patented PolyStrata® technology, which was developed under DARPA and enables the company to design and produce uniquely packaged RF devices, such as antennas, filters and combiners, all of which are components in Cubic’s advanced technology product offerings.

Novume Solutions, Inc. Completes Acquisition of OpenALPR Technology, Inc.
Mass.-based OpenALPR Technology, Inc. is a provider of automated license plate reader (LPR) technology used by both law enforcement and commercial clients.

NEWS

United Launch Alliance Successfully Launches WGS-10 Mission
A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket carrying the tenth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite for the U.S. Air Force lifted off from Space Launch Complex-37 on March 15 at 8:26 p.m. EDT. ULA has been the exclusive launch provider for all ten WGS satellites. The WGS-10 satellite, built by the Boeing Company, is an important element of the new high-capacity satellite communications system. Each WGS satellite provides more wideband communications capacity than the entire Defense Satellite Communications System.

Huntington Ingalls Industries Completes Installation of USS George Washington (CVN 73) Main Mast
Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (NYSE:HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division has reached new heights in the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73). The shipyard installed the final piece of the ship’s new main mast—the 34-foot upper mast section—that raises the ship’s distinctive profile 123 feet above the flight deck. The RCOH now is 50 percent complete.

DSCA Notifies Congress of Possible Sale of AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles to Australia
The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Australia of AIM-120C-7 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) and related equipment for an estimated cost of $240.5 million. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale on March 12, 2019.

Hensoldt Announces Framework Agreement with Airbus Helicopters
At the end of 2018, Hensoldt and Airbus Helicopters signed a framework agreement for the delivery of the Airborne Missile Protection System (AMPS). Initially, the agreement will have a term of ten years without any minimum purchase requirement being set. Now the first order has already been placed. Hensoldt will deliver a total of 20 complete AMPS systems for the military multirole helicopter H145M in 2019/2020.

China and Pakistan to Upgrade Their JF-17 Fighter Jet – Pakistan Claims it Carried out an Attack Along the Line Of Control (LOC)
The Pakistan media claimed that JF-17 aircraft was used to carry out an attack along the Line Of Control (LOC) [with India] on February 27 2018.
China and Pakistan plan to upgrade their jointly- produced JF-17 Thunder fighter jet to enhance the its “informatised warfare” capability and weapons which experts says could effectively defend against strong opponents like India.

Lockheed Martin Names New Leaders for Mobility and Fighter Programs
Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) announced Roderick McLean as vice president and general manager for the company’s Air Mobility & Maritime Missions organization, succeeding George Shultz, who will retire later this year. Additionally, Bridget Lauderdale will become vice president and general manager for the Integrated Fighter Group organization, succeeding McLean. Both appointments are effective April 15.

C Series Aircraft Limited Partnership (“CSALP”) to Become Airbus Canada Limited Partnership
CSALP is pleased to announce it will soon change its name to Airbus Canada Limited Partnership. The new name reflects the majority interest of Airbus in the limited partnership since July 1, 2018. The organisation will adopt the Airbus logo as its single visual identity.

Rolls-Royce Takes Major Step Towards Electrifying Flight with Successful Hybrid Aero Propulsion Tests
Rolls-Royce has taken a significant step towards realising our ambition to provide hybrid-electric propulsion systems for the next generation of aviation, with successful ground tests of a hybrid system using our M250 gas turbine – a highly successful engine usually powering helicopters. The tests are part of one of the world’s most comprehensive hybrid aerospace turbine engine development and integration programmes and pave the way for experimental flights on aircraft in 2021.

Cadence Aerospace Names Nick Guerra as Company’s Chief Technology Officer
Cadence Aerospace, a provider of highly complex aerospace components and assemblies to commercial and defense customers, has named Nick Guerra as the Company’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO). With Centers of Excellence based in the U.S. and Mexico, Cadence Aerospace serves the world’s leading manufacturers of aircraft, aerostructures, aeroequipment and other defense platforms.
Reporting to Thomas C. Hutton, Chief Executive Officer of Cadence Aerospace, Mr. Guerra will be responsible for developing and implementing transformational technologies that will enable step change improvements in productivity, quality and process standardization.

KAL Capital Markets Announces its 10th Aerospace and Defense Investment Banking Transaction
KAL Capital Markets LLC (KAL Capital), an aerospace and defense investment bank, is pleased to announce that it has completed its 10th transaction since the firm was launched in 2017.
“We’re extremely proud of reaching our tenth closed transaction since launching the firm two years ago and feel privileged to serve the firm’s diverse set of Aerospace and Defense clients”, commented Ryan Murphy when asked about this significant milestone. “We’ve continue to create record valuations for our clients in the $25 to $250 million valuation range and expect that part of the market to remain very supportive in 2019.”

Trevor Bohn shared, “In seven of our ten transactions we advised business founders as they completed change of control transactions with public companies, international buyers or private equity funds. Additionally, we completed a divestiture for Triumph Group Inc. (TGI: NYSE) as well as transactions for portfolio companies of private equity investors. We believe that level of client mix fosters the most real-time information on trends, priorities and goals of the universe of buyers which helps the firm deliver differentiated advice to our core sell-side clientele.”

KAL Capital’s 10 aerospace and defense investment banking transactions included advising All Metals Processing

Air Transport Components
Beaver Aerospace and Defense
California Brazing
Dallas Aeronautical Services
Florida Turbine Technologies
Mountain Secure Systems
Triumph Group
PrimeFlight Aviation Services
STS Aviation GroupFor additional information on these transactions, please visit KAL Capital’s website at https://kalcapital.wpengine.com

SAIC Announces CEO Transition
Science Applications International Corp. (NYSE: SAIC) announced today that Tony Moraco will retire as chief executive officer effective July 31, 2019, and that its Board of Directors has elected Nazzic S. Keene, currently the corporation’s chief operating officer, to succeed him.

Sciaky Joins the Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies (ADAPT) to Expand Adoption of its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM®) in Aerospace and Other Sectors
Sciaky, Inc., a subsidiary of Phillips Service Industries, Inc. (PSI), and leading provider of metal additive manufacturing (AM) solutions, announced today that it has joined the Alliance for the Development of Additive Processing Technologies (ADAPT) to expand adoption of its Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing (EBAM®) technology in aerospace and other sectors. Headquartered at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, ADAPT is an industry-academia consortium that advances data informatics and characterization technologies to Optimize processes, materials, and parts for Additive. A barrier to AM process qualification that ADAPT is excited to work on, in collaboration with Sciaky, is the lack of fundamental understanding about how the process variables effect material microstructure and final part properties.

Contracts

Deutsche Lufthansa Contracts With Airbus SAS for Additional A350-900 Wide-Body Airliners
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Frankfurt, Germany) awarded Airbus SAS, Airbus (Toulouse Blagnac, France) a USD $6.5 billion contract based upon list prices for twenty (20) additional A350-900 Wide-Body airliners.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG Contracts With Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group for Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Airliners
Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Frankfurt, Germany) awarded Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group, Manufacturing (Renton, WA) a USD $5.8 billion contract for twenty (20) Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Airliners.

Army PEO STRI Awards Jacobs Technology the Huachuca Training and Support Contract (HTASC)
The U.S. Army Program Executive Office of Simulation, Training & Instrumentation (PEO STRI) (Orlando, FL) awarded Jacobs Technology – Unified and Special Operations Group (USOG) (Tampa, FL) a $785.0 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, ID/IQ contract (W900KK-19-D-0004) for the Huachuca Training and Support Contract (HTASC) in support of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center of Excellence (ICoE), located at Fort Huachuca, AZ

Army ACC-RSA Contracts With Northrop Grumman for Four Complete Battery Sets of IAMD Battle Command System (IBCS) Production Hardware/Software for FMS to Poland
The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Redstone (ACC-RSA) (Redstone Arsenal, AL) awarded Northrop Grumman Missile Defense and Protective Systems Division (Huntsville, AL) a $713.0 million firm-fixed-price contract (W31P4Q-19-C-0003) for the procurement of four complete battery sets of Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) Battle Command System (IBCS) production hardware and software for the government of Poland under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program.

NAVFAC Southwest Awards Five Contracts for New Construction, Renovation, and Repair of Airfield Paving Construction at Various Government Installations in AoR
The U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southwest (NAVFAC Southwest) Capital Improvement Contract Core (San Diego, CA) award five, five-year, multiple award, ID/IQ contracts, with a maximum value of $495.0 million, for new construction, renovation, and repair of airfield paving construction at various government installations in CA, AZ, NV, UT, CO, and NM.

NAVSEA Mods Contract With Raytheon for Additional LRIP Air and Missile Defense Radars (AMDRs)
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) (Washington, DC) awarded Raytheon SAS – Integrated Communication Systems (Marlborough, MA) a $402.7 million fixed-price-incentive-firm modification under a previously awarded contract (N00024-14-C-5315) to exercise options for three low-rate initial production (LRIP) Air and Missile Defense Radars (AMDRs) to be deployed on DDG 51 Flight III-class ships.

Navy SSP Contracts With Northrop Grumman for Common Missile Compartment (CMC) Underwater Launcher Hardware Production
The U.S. Navy Strategic Systems Programs (SSP) (Washington Navy Yard, DC) awarded Northrop Grumman Maritime Systems (Sunnyvale, CA) a $273.1 million cost-plus incentive-fee, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price contract (N00030-19-C-0015) for Common Missile Compartment (CMC) underwater launcher hardware production.

AFLCMC Eglin Contracts With Boeing for B-52H Long Range Stand-Off (LRSO) Cruise Missile Weapon System Integration
On behalf of the U.S. Air Force PEO for Weapons (Eglin AFB, FL), the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Air Armament Center (AAC) (Eglin AFB, FL) awarded Boeing Global Services Government – Engineering, Modifications & Maintenance (Oklahoma City, OK) a $250.0 million ID/IQ contract (FA2103-19-D-3000) for B-52H Long Range Stand-Off (LRSO) Cruise Missile weapon system integration.

Army CENAE Contracts With Sevenson Environmental Services for Raymark Superfund Site Operable Units (OUs) 3/4/6 Remedial Action
The U.S. Army Engineer District, New England (CENAE) (Concord, MA) awarded Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc. (Niagara Falls, NY) a $99.0 million firm-fixed-price, ID/IQ contract (W912WJ-19-D-0012) for remedial action for Operable Units (OUs) 3, 4 and 6 of the Raymark Superfund Site in Stamford, CT.

NAVFAC Southeast Contracts With NCS/EML SB JV for NAS Whiting Field Base Operating Support (BOS) Services
The U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast (NAVFAC Southeast) (Jacksonville, FL) awarded NCS/EML SB Joint Venture, LLC (Louisville, KY) a $96.7 million firm-fixed-price, ID/IQ contract (N69450-19-D-1740) for base operations support (BOS) services at Naval Air Station (NAS) Whiting Field and outlying areas.

NAVAIR HQ Contracts With Northrop Grumman for MQ-4C Triton Sustaining Engineering and Logistics Support
The U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, Headquarters (NAVAIR HQ) (Patuxent River, MD) awarded Northrop Grumman Autonomous Systems Development Center (San Diego, CA) an $89.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-19-C-1020) for sustaining engineering and logistics support for the U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Early Operating Capability (EOC) in support of the Persistent Maritime Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program Office (PMA 262).

NAWCWD Contracts With Lockheed Martin for Advanced Insertion and Integration RDT&E of Lockheed Martin Baseline Systems
The U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Div. (NAWCWD) (China Lake, CA) awarded Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (MFC) – Orlando (Orlando, FL) an $84.1 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, ID/IQ contract (N68936-19-D-0020) for research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) for advanced insertion and integration of Lockheed Martin baseline systems.

Army ACC-RI Awards EAGLE – 2018 BOA Delivery Order to Synergy Logistics Services for Logistics Support Services at Fort Gordon, GA
The U.S. Army Contracting Command – Rock Island (ACC-RI) (Rock Island, IL) awarded Synergy Logistics Services, LLC (North Kansas City, MO) an $81.5 million delivery order (W52P1J-19-F-0173) under the company’s Enhanced Army Global Logistics Enterprise (EAGLE) – 2018 basic ordering agreement (BOA) (W52P1J-17-G-0100) for logistics support services, including maintenance, supply, and transportation support, at Fort Gordon, GA.

USSOCOM SOF AT&L Contracts With Barrett Firearms Manufacturing for Advanced Sniper Rifles (ASRs)
The U.S. SOCOM Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USSOCOM SOF AT&L) (Tampa, FL) awarded Barrett Firearms Mfg, Inc. (Christiana, TN) an estimated $49.9 million firm-fixed-price, ID/IQ contract (H92403-19-D-0002) for the purchase of Advanced Sniper Rifles (ASRs) in support of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), Program Executive Office Special Operations Forces Warrior (PEO-SW).