UK aerospace companies continue to chase the growing US homeland security budget, with BAE Systems and Cobham both taking over US suppliers. BAE paid $27 million for STI Industries' Government Systems, a specialist in electro-optical sensors and data processing, and the core of STI, which also produces medical and environmental sensor systems.
Cobham has taken over DTC Communications, paying $48 million cash for the company, which specialises in cameras and tactical radio links. Its turnover, mostly from sales US law enforcement agencies, is $27.5 million.
Cobham Avionics group finance director Paul Long says: "The law enforcement demand is there at the moment, it's certainly more immediate, but there are opportunities to use their datalinks and cameras on unmanned air vehicles for the military market in the future." DTC technology could also be used on planned unmanned ground vehicles, he adds. Cobham is already involved in surveillance and UAV markets.
Source: Flight International
