Kratos Defense & Security Solutions [KTOS] on Tuesday said it has agreed to acquire the ASC Signal division from Communications & Power Industries
(CPI) for $35 million in cash, a deal that gives its antenna products that fit into its business in the ground segment supporting space-based systems.
CPI is required by U.S. anti-trust regulators to divest its ASC Signal antenna business as a condition of its recent acquisition of the former satellite communications technology business of General Dynamics [GD].
ASC designs and manufactures large and small antenna systems for satellite communications, radar, electronic warfare and high-frequency applications. The division has more than 100 employees.
Kratos said its currently uses antennas from multiple manufacturers for its work on full-scale large, complex systems in which antennas are just a part, particularly with U.S. government and national security customers, Kratos said.
ASC’s sales, which were not disclosed, are split roughly equal between commercial and U.S. government customers, Phil Carrai, president of Kratos’ Space, Training and Cybersecurity Division, told Defense Daily in a brief phone interview on Tuesday. The government business is largely with the U.S. military but also includes other customers, including the intelligence community, he said.
Kratos’ space business includes a number of products and solutions across the ground segment.
“The addition of ASC provides an important building block for Kratos’ continued growth as the industry’s broadest supplier of advanced products across the ground segment,” Carrai said in a press release announcing the deal. “Beyond the strong product lines and North American manufacturing base, it brings the ability for us to advance our strategy of building important ground segment technologies directly into antenna’s and better integrating antennas into increasingly virtualized ground systems. In addition, the acquisition brings engineering expertise and a product platform for growing Kratos’ solutions in the Q and V band markets that will become a critical part of the industry’s future.”
The deal expected to close within 60 days.