BAE Systems on Monday said it has completed its $275 million cash acquisition of the airborne tactical radio business from Raytheon Technologies
[RTX], which was required by the U.S. government to divest the business as one of the conditions permitting regulatory approval of the merger of United Technologies and Raytheon.
The airborne tactical radios business, which used to be part of Raytheon, will report within BAE’s Electronic Systems group.
BAE said the new business unit adds complementary waveform expertise to its C4ISR Systems business and includes broad spectrum, multiband, multi-channel radios with anti-jamming and encryption capabilities.
BAE’s existing data link business sells its products to the Navy and foreign military sales customers for use on ships and aircraft. The airborne tactical radios business’ products are mainly used on rotary, fixed-wing and unmanned aircraft and the biggest customers are the Air Force and Army. The business also sells to allied governments and large defense aircraft manufacturers.
“Moving forward, our focus will be on the successful integration of our businesses to maximize the value we offer to our customers,” Jeff Jones, director of Airborne Radios for BAE, said in a statement. “We look forward to exchanging ideas and learning from each other to foster a culture of innovation that will further enhance our technologies and product offering to support our shared commitment to the warfighter.”
BAE in January announced a $2.2 billion deal to acquire the military GPS business from United Technologies and the airborne tactical radio business from Raytheon as part of the merger plans to create Raytheon Technologies. BAE said it expects to complete the purchase of the military GPS in the coming months. That business will become part of the Electronic Systems Precision Strike & Sensing Solutions business area.
There is an expected tax benefit to BAE of $50 million for the radio business and $365 million for the GPS business.