BAE Systems recently said that it has agreed to acquire Fairchild Imaging, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of solid-state electronic imaging components, cameras and systems, for $86 million in cash.
Britain’s BAE already owns a nearly 9 percent stake in California-based Fairchild Imaging, which makes its products for aerospace, industrial, medical and scientific imaging applications.
BAE said the deal complements its existing electro-imaging capabilities and products.
“The addition of Fairchild Imaging’s advanced electronic imagery technology will support enhanced night vision capability for both airborne and land forces applications,” Linda Hudson, president and CEO of BAE Systems, Inc., the U.S.-based division of BAE, said in a statement. “It also progresses BAE Systems’ focus on providing our customers with higher quality image solutions with lower size, weight, and power characteristics, helping soldiers to complete their missions more safely and effectively.”
Fairchild Imaging has 150 employees. The company will become part of BAE’s New Hampshire-based Electronic Solutions sector. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2011.
For aerospace applications, Fairchild Imaging’s sensors are on several NASA satellites including the Cassini mission to explore Saturn and the Deep Impact mission to discover the composition of the comet Tempel 1. Their components are also used in astronomy, aerial reconnaissance and satellite mapping.