October 2, 2024 | International, Aerospace
July 16, 2018 | International, C4ISR
L3 acquires two information security firms with eye toward multiple markets
By: Daniel Cebul
ASHINGTON ― L3 Technologies on Wednesday acquired two information security companies, Azimuth Security and Linchpin Labs. The acquisitions are expected to strengthen L3′s C4ISR, cyber defense and combat systems businesses.
The acquired companies, which will become L3 Trenchant, were purchased for approximately $200 million. But “the purchase price is subject to an upward adjustment of up to AUD$43 million (approximately USD$32 million), payable in L3 common stock," according to an L3 news release. This depends on post-acquisition sales from June 30, 2019, to 2021.
The acquisition follows L3′s $540 million sale of Vertex in May.
“These acquisitions sharpen our capabilities, heighten our responsiveness and advance L3's prime position as a C6ISR solutions provider,” said Christopher E. Kubasik, L3's chairman, president and CEO. “We are making targeted investments in cutting-edge technologies and integrating them with existing capabilities to support our domestic and international customers in strategically important business areas.”
In a previous interview with Defense News, Kubasik said the company's acquisition strategy is based on addressing strategic needs and capability gaps. “In several cases after discussions with our customers and looking at the National Defense Strategy, we're looking for different technologies and capabilities” he said. " We look at our strategy, we go out and find things to fill the gaps."
Some of the gaps L3 is looking to fill in the U.S. and overseas are related to underwater unmanned vehicles as well as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. Kubasik said he hopes to capitalize on increased interest in sensor and communication technologies.
“Internationally, we visited customers in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” he said. “There is a lot of entrants, especially in the Mideast for ISR platform[s]. ... And of course that's in our sweet spot.”
Canada-based Linchpin Labs specializes in custom software development and brings experience working with government clients on computer network operations, cross-platform and low-level systems development, and information technology services.
Based in Sydney, Australia, Azimuth Security is an information security consultancy firm that focuses on in-depth software analysis, including threat modeling and design, configuration, and source-code review.
“These pioneering intelligence solutions — the ‘I' in ISR — give our customers an intelligence advantage through next-generation network security and threat mitigation,” said Jeff Miller, L3's senior vice president and head of the firm's sensor systems unit.
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October 10, 2019 | International, Land
BAE Systems wins $148.3M Army contract to upgrade M88A1 vehicles
ByEd Adamczyk Oct. 9 (UPI) -- BAE Systems announced a $148.3 million contract with the U.S. Army on Wednesday to upgrade M88A1 heavy-lift vehicles. A total of 43 vehicles will be rebuilt with increased power, maneuverability and survivability features to increase their configuration to M88A2 Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift System, or HERCULES, status. The Army intends to acquire 933 such vehicles -- with the upgraded M88A1s, it will have 914. "The HERCULES is an invaluable vehicle for the Army's recovery missions," said Dennis Hancock of BAE Systems. "We are proud to support the Army's recovery needs and we will continue to work alongside the Army to provide upgraded solutions as their missions and requirements change." Twenty-eight feet long and carrying a crew of three, the M88A2's specialty is the recovery of tanks mired to different depths, its capability in removing and installing tank turrets and power packs, and its ability to upright overturned heavy combat vehicles. The main winch on the M88A2 can move 70 tons, compared to the M88A1's 56 tons, allowing it to recover a 70-ton M1A2 Abrams tank. The upgraded vehicle can also be anchored for earth-moving purposes to prepare a recovery area and can refuel Abrams tanks from its own fuel tanks. Work on the program will be conducted at four BAE facilities in the United States, with deliveries scheduled to start in February 2021. https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2019/10/09/BAE-Systems-wins-1483M-Army-contract-to-upgrade-M88A1-vehicles/5411570639391
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September 18, 2018 | International, Naval
After Pacific tour, Navy’s No. 2 talks readiness, staying ahead of competition
By CAITLIN DOORNBOS | STARS AND STRIPES YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Bill Moran heard right from the source how the Navy's largest foreign command is keeping up with readiness challenges, including a significant maintenance backlog and an ever-increasing competition landscape. Moran — the service's second-highest ranking officer — visited Navy bases in South Korea and Japan last week on a listening tour that he said brought helpful insight into on-the-ground operations in the Pacific. “We in Washington have our own views about things and it's largely programmatic in nature, budgetary in nature and some policy,” he told Stars and Stripes in an interview Thursday. “But to get feedback from sailors, commanding officers, chiefs and master chiefs in the fleet really helps us refine and make sure that we're supporting from Washington what they need [in the Pacific].” Readiness challenges At Yokosuka on Thursday, Moran spent time on the waterfront discussing ship maintenance. The base is home to U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility Japan Regional Maintenance Center, which is working on what Moran called a “not insignificant” backlog. A request for exact numbers on that backlog went unanswered. The 7th Fleet is operating with fewer ships than it had planned after two of its guided-missile destroyers — the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain — were severely damaged in separate fatal collisions at sea last year. While Yokosuka added an additional destroyer — the USS Milius — earlier this year, the fleet remains down two operational ships because Milius was originally intended to be an additional ship in support of Indo-Pacific operations, former Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Scott Swift told Stars and Stripes last year. Moran said the McCain, which is being repaired in Yokosuka, is expected to get out of drydock this fall and the Navy is aiming to have it underway in the spring. The Fitzgerald is undergoing maintenance in Pascagoula, Miss., and the service has said the goal is to return it to sea by 2020. Moran said ship maintenance “is a key critical element for overall fleet readiness.” “Everybody recognizes that we've got to do the maintenance that's built up over time. While that's important to everybody, no one likes to be in the yards,” Moran said. “There's a cost of doing that right now and we have to re-baseline the maintenance of our ships across the fleet, particularly [in the Pacific] because it is so active, it has been a very busy place for a long time.” On Sept. 12, Moran and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith toured Yokosuka's USS Blue Ridge, which has been undergoing maintenance for about two years. Crews first re-lit the boilers on the Navy's oldest commissioned operational ship in June, and Moran said the 7th Fleet's flagship is “about ready to go to sea.” “She's outfitted like an old ‘57 Chevy that we've took the engine out, took the dashboard out and put all modern capability in, and man, she sounds and she's going to run kind of nice,” Moran said. The Blue Ridge's staff moved back onto the ship this summer. Capt. Brett Crozier, the Blue Ridge's commander, said it was an honor to host Moran. Full article: https://www.stripes.com/news/after-pacific-tour-navy-s-no-2-talks-readiness-staying-ahead-of-competition-1.547999