The Neptune anti-ship missile: The weapon that may have sunk the Russian flagship Moskva

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  December 21, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  Lockheed Martin to Acquire Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.4 Billion

  By Will Wade and Max Zimmerman Lockheed Martin Corp. agreed to acquire the defense industry supplier Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc. in a deal valued at $4.4 billion. As part of the transaction, Aerojet declared a $5 per share special dividend, to be paid on March 24, to holders of record as of March 10. The payment of that special dividend will adjust the $56 per share consideration to be paid by Lockheed Martin, according to a statement Sunday. The shares surged in pre-market New York trading on Monday. At $51, Lockheed will be buying Aerojet at a 21% premium from the closing price on Friday. Chief Executive Officer Jim Taiclet, who stepped into the top job this year, has said he was keen to expand the world's largest defense contractor through acquisitions. With Aerojet, he's picking up a key U.S. supplier of propulsion systems for missiles, rockets and other space and defense applications. “Acquiring Aerojet Rocketdyne will preserve and strengthen an essential component of the domestic defense industrial base,” Taiclet said in the statement. Lockheed has been scouting for deals. In January, the company said it was flush with cash and open to deals as rival Raytheon Co. prepared to combine with United Technologies Corp. to create an aerospace-and-defense powerhouse. Lockheed has been seeking opportunities to “bring in the technologies faster into the company that we think are going to be crucial for the future,” Taiclet said during its October earnings call. “So we plan to be active, but we also plan to be very, very prudent.” The Aerojet transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2021 after getting regulatory approvals and a nod from Aerojet's shareholders. Aerojet advanced to $54.44 Monday before markets opened in New York. That's up 29% from Friday's close, which gave the El Segundo, California-based company a market value of $3.25 billion. Lockheed was little changed from its Friday close, which valued the buyer at about $100 billion. At the end of last week, Aerojet's stock was trading at 25 times expected earnings, compared with 16 times for Lockheed. Aerojet's shares have fallen 7.9% this year and Lockheed dropped 8.6%, both underperforming the S&P 500 Index, which climbed 15%. Lockheed's space division is its third-largest business, contributing 18% of its 2019 revenue. The company competes with Elon Musk's SpaceX for U.S. government rocket launches through the United Launch Alliance, its joint venture with Boeing Co. Lockheed was advised by Goldman Sachs, Ardea Partners and Hogan Lovells, while Citigroup and Evercore, as well as Jenner & Block and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represented Aerojet. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-21/lockheed-martin-to-buy-defense-supplier-aerojet-for-4-4-billion

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  November 15, 2023 | International, Aerospace

  Elon Musk denies report of potential Starlink IPO in 2024 | Reuters

  Elon Musk on Wednesday denied a report that his rocket company SpaceX was discussing an initial public offering (IPO) for its satellite internet business, Starlink, as soon as 2024.

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  April 30, 2020 | International, Aerospace

  The Army is moving forward with its electronic warfare pod

  Andrew Eversden The Army has moved the Lockheed Martin-made electronic warfare pod to the build and evaluation phase of the operational system, as it bolsters its electronic warfare capabilities. The second phase agreement is worth nearly $75 million, according to the Consortium Management Group's Jan. 30 award listing, which made the award on behalf of the Army. Lockheed Martin's electronic warfare pod, known as the “Air Large” piece of the Army's Multi-Function Electronic Warfare family of systems program, is mounted on an MQ-1C Gray Eagle drone. It provides commanders with jamming capabilities as well as electronic support, or sensing of the electromagnetic spectrum. The defense contractor developed a prototype as part of the first phase of the project it won in January 2019 under an $18 million contact. “Our internal research & development programs have resulted in first-of-its-kind converged technologies that are at the forefront of realizing our customers' urgent need and vision for combined cyber and electronic warfare (EW) capability and dominance,” Deon Viergutz, vice president of Lockheed's Spectrum Convergence division, said in a statement. The company has been testing the pod as part of the Army's Cyber Blitz exercise. Army officials plan to have the capability deployed to combat aviation brigades in 2022. The pods are expected to play a critical role on the battlefield with near-peer adversaries, such as Russia and China. “The air pod solutions are very important, especially when you start going against a near-peer competitor. The main reason why is because you start now dealing with more of an [electronic intelligence] ELINT threat than with a strictly commercial threat,” Col. Kevin Finch, program manager for electronic warfare and cyber within Program Executive Office Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors, told C4ISRNET in October last year. https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/c2-comms/2020/04/29/the-army-is-moving-forward-with-its-electronic-warfare-pod