DRS-Thales Buys U.S. Sonar Firm

PARIS - DRS Sonar Systems, a U.S. joint venture between DRS and Thales, has bought for an undisclosed amount Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), an undersea warfare specialist based in Hauppauge, N.Y., DRS and Thales said in a joint statement.
"This is in the line with our external growth strategy of highly targeted acquisitions of small and medium-sized companies with sophisticated technology," Thales Executive Chairman Luc Vigneron said Jan. 7.

Vigneron declined to give financial details of the deal.
European defense groups are eager to buy U.S. companies to help lift their share of the American military market, still the biggest worldwide at the proposed $553 billion base budget for 2012.
Thales looks to the acquisition of AAC to "develop its market share with the U.S. Navy," Vigneron said.
Beyond AAC's current business, Thales sees the company as a "conduit" to offer its technology to the U.S. Navy and grow on new programs, he said. Thales hopes to move up the level of integration with the help of DRS, an integration specialist, as its partner, Vigneron said.
Privately held AAC employs some 200 staff and does not publish annual sales. AAC had 2005 sales of $35 million, according to a press release from U.S. Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., at the opening of its facility in a university technology park in Pennsylvania.
Allan Cameron, president and CEO of Thales USA, said AAC provides "additional footprint and growth in the U.S. as well as the business benefits of tying in with an established, highly respected U.S. technology provider to our U.S. Navy in the underwater domain."
AAC provides "opportunity for rapid insertion of off-the-shelf technologies with AAC's foothold in the U.S. Navy undersea warfare market," Cameron said.
The acquisition brings U.S.-based manufacturing and service capabilities that Thales hopes will meet customer requirements and boost its chances of winning anti-submarine warfare business on platforms such as the Littoral Combat Ship, he said.
"The strategic value is significant," Cameron said.
AAC is on the AN/S QQ-89 anti-submarine combat system that equips U.S. Navy warships.
"We are creating an entity with proven experience in the field of undersea warfare," said Richard Danforth, president and CEO of DRS Defense Solutions, a unit of DRS Technologies, which is owned by Finmeccanica.
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States reviewed and cleared the deal.