WASHINGTON ― French company Safran Electronics and Defense said it has agreed to buy positioning, navigation and timing specialist Orolia.
The acquisition by the Safran Group subsidiary, which has been in negotiations since December, pushes Safran further into the PNT technology and equipment sector. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Orolia specializes in atomic clocks, time servers and signal simulation equipment, as well as emergency locator beacons for aircraft and military applications.
Martin Sion, CEO of Safran Electronics and Defense, said he hopes the acquisition will launch the French company globally as a leader of PNT technologies.
“The acquisition of Orolia makes Safran one of the only companies with the full complement of PNT technologies, bringing together Orolia’s precise time referencing and Safran Electronics & Defense’s proven inertial navigation solutions,” he said in a statement. “Our shared ambition is to become the world leader in resilient PNT for all conventional and strategic applications.”
Safran’s purchase will complete a “cohesive set of PNT architectures” to meet the needs of industries including aviation, defense and space, the company said.
With revenues exceeding $100 million, Orolia employs more than 400 people across North America and Europe.
Safran Group develops and manufactures aircraft and rocket engines as well as aerospace and defense-related equipment and components. The company, formed by a merger between Snecma and the defense electronics specialist Sagem in 2005, had more than €15 billion (U.S. $15.3 billion) in revenue last year.
Zamone “Z” Perez is a reporter at Military Times. He previously worked at Foreign Policy and Ufahamu Africa. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he researched international ethics and atrocity prevention in his thesis. He can be found on Twitter @zamoneperez.
