Uncrewed aircraft developers agree strategic acquisitions

Ondas is bringing an existing supplier in-house to support a defined production increase, while Shield is adding an established sensor business alongside its autonomy software and aircraft systems.

Ondas and Shield have signed unrelated agreements to acquire hardware manufacturers, with Ondas securing the airframe supplier for its ULTRA uncrewed ISR aircraft and Shield adding radar company Echodyne to its business.

Ondas will acquire 100% of Stemme GmbH in an all-cash transaction. Stemme builds the type-certified S12 composite airframe that underpins ULTRA. Ondas says the acquisition would strengthen its supply chain and manufacturing capacity, including through new US production, to support a target of 10 aircraft a month by 2028.

ULTRA is operationally deployed by the US Air Force. Ondas puts its endurance at more than 70 hours with over 400 pounds of payload, positioning its commercial airframe as the basis for a lower-cost approach to persistent ISR. The company says the planned expansion would serve US and allied demand, with additional opportunities in dual-use applications.

Shield has agreed to acquire Echodyne in a transaction valued at up to $5.3 billion, comprising $4.8 billion in consideration at closing and up to $500 million contingent on agreed performance targets. Echodyne’s radars are incorporated into hundreds of counter-drone and security systems used by defence, government and commercial customers in more than 40 countries.

Shield is raising $2.5 billion to support the acquisition: a $1 billion Series H round at a $28.8 billion post-money valuation, $1 billion in structured equity from funds managed by Blackstone, and $500 million in debt led by JPMorgan Chase. Both Shield and Echodyne expect triple-digit revenue growth this fiscal year.

Gary Steele, Shield’s CEO, says the company is being built around three mutually supporting businesses: autonomy software, autonomous systems and mission systems. He says acquiring Echodyne would dramatically accelerate that effort. The software strategy was illustrated on 28 October, when Leonardo agreed to use Shield’s Hivemind software development kit to enable its engineers to develop autonomy for the Proteus uncrewed rotorcraft.

Also this week: Vaeridion has closed a €30 million Series A2 round and been selected for a €94.5 million EU Innovation Fund grant towards a Microliner final assembly facility at Oberpfaffenhofen. ArianeGroup’s Prometheus reusable engine has completed hot-fire testing on the DLR-operated P5 bench at Lampoldshausen. GE Aerospace and BETA Technologies have completed a hybrid electric assisted takeoff with a modified Saab 340B at Plattsburgh. Sceye has signed a five-year master services agreement with SoftBank to manufacture, launch and operate a fleet of stratospheric platforms over Japan.