Curtiss-Wright Corp. [CW] last Friday said it has agreed to acquire Safran Aerosystems Arresting Company (SAA) for $240 million in cash, giving it a new product line and expanding its international business.
SAA, which is part of France’s Safran Group
, is based in Pennsylvania and had about $70 million in sales in 2021. The business makes emergency land-based arresting systems for military aircraft.
A Curtiss-Wright spokesman told Defense Daily that about 75 percent of SAA’s sales are to international customers, namely Japan, India and Australia, and 25 percent to U.S. customers. Original equipment and aftermarket sales are split about evenly, he said.
The SAA business also complements Curtiss-Wright’s existing work selling helicopter landing and recovery systems to the U.S. and foreign navies.
“The acquisition of the Safran arresting systems business increases the breadth of our global defense portfolio and firmly establishes Curtiss-Wright as a leading global supplier of fixed-wing aircraft recovery and arresting systems,” Lynn Bamford, president and CEO of Curtiss-Wright, said in a statement. “SAA’s technologies are a logical extension to our existing helicopter landing and recovery systems. The combination provides an opportunity to leverage our long-standing relationships with leading defense customers supporting critical defense platforms, such as the F-35, and is expected to yield significant opportunities for revenue growth, including increased foreign military sales.”
SAA has nearly 140 employees and also has operations in France. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approval.
SAA’s products include the mechanical braking module for the Advanced Arresting Gear on the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class aircraft carrier program, energy absorbers, a multiple disc mechanical brake system, retractable hook cable systems, net-stanchion systems, and mobile systems to support aircraft carrier and fixed land-based arresting systems.
SAA will report within Curtiss-Wright’s Naval & Power segment.