Editor’s note: The headline on this story was updated Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, to reflect that AeroVironment is acquiring BlueHalo for $4.1 billion.
AeroVironment, a leading drone manufacturer, announced Tuesday its plans to acquire BlueHalo, well-known for its drone swarm and counter-drone technology, for roughly $4.1 billion through an all-stock transaction.
“The acquisition of BlueHalo will create a diversified Defense Tech company with a highly complementary and differentiated portfolio of solutions in Uncrewed Systems, short and long range Loitering Munitions, Counter UAS, Space Technologies, Electronic Warfare and Cyber, powered by AI and Autonomy,” according to a joint statement from the companies. “This combination will drive innovation, expand manufacturing capacity and enable us to better support our customers and their critical missions.”
BlueHalo’s portfolio consists of “10 flagship solution families” and more than 100 patents, the statement lists.
“For over 50 years, AV has pioneered innovative solutions on the battlefield, and today we are poised to usher in the next era of defense technology through our combination with BlueHalo,” Wahid Nawabi, AV’s CEO, said in a statement.
BlueHalo has “pioneered solutions for drone warfare, distributed autonomy, and the need for more robust and assured access to space in an increasingly contested, crowded and competitive domain,” Jonathan Moneymaker, BlueHalo CEO, said. “By uniting with AV, we are building an organization equipped to meet emerging defense priorities and deliver purpose-driven, state-of-the-art solutions with unmatched speed.”
AeroVironment provides a number of unmanned aircraft systems and loitering munitions to the U.S. military and to other customers. A number of the company’s capabilities have been sent to Ukraine to aid its fight to beat back Russia’s invasion, such as the Switchblade loitering munition, the Puma UAS and Jump 20 tactical UAS.
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BlueHalo has become more well-known in the defense sector in recent years, winning contracts like one with the U.S. Army to provide offensive swarm capability for evaluation purposes in 2022 and another multibillion deal with U.S. Space Force for its BADGER system, an adaptive phased array product.
The company has also provided directed energy counter-unmanned aircraft solutions for combat vehicles and delivered over 1,000 Titan counter-UAS systems to customers.
Having earned roughly $886 million in revenue in 2023, BlueHalo estimates it will generate $900 million in revenue in 2024, according to the statement, with a backlog of nearly $600 million along with multiple billion-dollar opportunities on the horizon.
Together, the merged businesses expect to generate more than $1.7 billion in revenue, the statement notes.
The merger is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2025, according to the statement.
The combined company will be headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, where AV has its corporate headquarters.
Nawabi will be president and CEO of the combined company while Moneymaker will stay on as a strategic adviser to Nawabi and the company’s management team, the statement lays out.
Arlington Capital Partners, an investment company that is the majority owner of BlueHalo, will maintain “a significant” ownership stake in the company.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
