Several leading US aerospace companies have completed a series of moves designed to strengthen their position in the government information technology market, particularly homeland security.
General Dynamics (GD) has completed the $1.5 billion acquisition of information systems specialist Veridian, while Lockheed Martin has agreed to exchange its commercial IT unit for the government business of US firm ACS.
Veridian and its 7,300 employees will become part of GD's fast-growing Information Systems & Technology group. ACS units with 5,800 employees and combined sales last financial year of $700 million will become part of Lockheed Martin's government IT business, while the defence giant's commercial IT unit, with 1,000 employees and $300 million in sales, will go to ACS. Lockheed Martin will pay ACS $551 million as part of the deal.
Northrop Grumman is realigning two operating sectors to streamline its government IT business, after last year's merger with TRW. Three units with estimated 2003 revenues of $840 million will move from the Mission Systems sector formed earlier this year around TRW's defence businesses to Northrop Grumman's Information Technology sector.
The command and control business of Northrop Grumman IT, with expected sales of $850 million for 2003, will move to mission systems.
Raytheon, meanwhile, has formed a strategic relationship with IBM to design computer chips and systems for the aerospace and defence market. The deal to apply IBM's commercial technology to Raytheon's defence markets is expected to be worth up to $100 million to the computer giant over five years.
BAE Systems has struck a deal to provide its CsLEOS real-time operating system to harsh-environment computer specialist Dy 4 Systems for safety-critical applications.
Source: Flight International
