Raytheon [RTN] on Jan. 26 said it has acquired Sensintel, a small Arizona-based firm that develops and produces small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) for the intelligence and special operations markets.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but Raytheon said it would not be material to its first quarter or full-year results in 2015. The business will become part of Raytheon’s Missile Systems segment.
Sensintel was divested by Britain’s BAE Systems in 2013, which had purchased the business in 2008 for $14.7 million when it was called Advanced Ceramics Research, Inc. BAE originally purchased the company to complement its work on larger UAS systems in Britain.
However, BAE found that it was unable to create synergies between its small UAS and large UAS efforts, leading to the sale of the business to Matthew Pobloske, who was its director of Business Development. Pobloske renamed the company Sensintel.
At the time of BAE’s divestiture, Sensintel had about 30 employees. It now has about 50.
Sensintel has relationships with the Special Operations Command, the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory. Raytheon said the company also serves government and commercial customers by integrating mission specific sensors and subsystems into manned and unmanned platforms.
“Sensintel’s expertise in unmanned aircraft systems solutions make it a natural fit with Raytheon’s Advanced Missile Systems product line,” Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems segment, said in a statement. “The acquisition of Sensintel enhances the growth prospects of our UAS business and the advanced capabilities we can offer our customers.”
Sensintel’s UAS products include the Silver Fox, Manta and air-launched Coyote. The Silver Fox was used by the Navy during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Coyote is used to help with hurricane forecasting and the Manta for geo-science research.