BAE Systems has sold its US unmanned air system division, with the divested company now operating under the new name Sensintel.
In 2009 BAE purchased Tuscon, Arizona-based Advanced Ceramics Research, which built UAS including the hand-launched Silver Fox and larger Manta. Despite receiving several small contracts, including some with branches of the US military, it decided to divest the holding.
"BAE originally bought the company because of the systems we had and the customers we had built," says Matthew Pobloske, president of the new Sensintel company and former BAE division head.
"We're open for business today, still deployed in theatre," Pobloske says. "I've got 30-some employees here working as we speak. It was really a very clean transition from that standpoint, and the legal entity that has been in existence since 1989, which survived when we were acquired by BAE, continues on its merry way."
BAE says it will continue to have a strong presence in the USA, including manufacturing electronics and aircraft components.
Source: Flight International
