Curtiss-Wright acquiring PacStar for $400 million

WASHINGTON — North Carolina-based defense technology company Curtiss-Wright announced Sept. 24 that it had entered into an agreement to acquire Pacific Star, a major tactical communications vendor for the U.S. Army.

Curtiss-Wright, based in North Carolina, bought PacStar for $400 million in an effort to boost its network communications business. According to a press release from Curtiss-Wright, PacStar’s business will operate within the Curtiss-Wright defense business and is expected to generate $120 million in sales in 2020.

“The acquisition of PacStar establishes Curtiss-Wright as a critical supplier of advanced tactical and enterprise network communications solutions supporting a broad spectrum of high-priority U.S. military force modernization programs,” said David C. Adams, chairman and CEO of Curtiss-Wright Corporation, in a statement. “The combination of Curtiss-Wright’s mission-critical mobile and secure COTS-based processing, data management and communications technologies with PacStar’s highly complementary hardware and software solutions will enable us to deliver best-in-class platform network integration and tactical data link network management to the warfighter.”

Curtiss-Wright ranked No. 72 in Defense News' Top 100 annual report on the world’s largest defense companies.

PacStar is an important vendor for the Army’s tactical network modernization effort, where it provides products to improve tactical expeditionary communications. Back in July, PacStar was awarded work to support the fielding of satellite baseband communications to three Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced (ESB-E) units by Army Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications-Tactical. PacStar also provides networking and communications capabilities for the Marine Corps' Networking On-The-Move (NOTM) program.

“PacStar, which represents the largest transaction in Curtiss-Wright’s recent history, is well-positioned to benefit from the military’s continued investment in robust, secure and integrated battlefield network management and is expected to yield significant opportunities for revenue growth," Adams said. "Further, this acquisition supports Curtiss-Wright’s financial objectives for long-term profitable growth and strong free cash flow generation within our disciplined and balanced capital allocation strategy.”

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