UK’s Ultra Electronics started the year with two US acquisitions: Adaptive Materials (AMI) for $23 million cash plus another $5 million based on future performance, and 3e Technologies International, for $30 million. AMI designs and makes propane fuel cells suitable to power small UAs demanding 50W-300W power, and 3e makes military grade wireless networking and communications equipment.
Ultra was formed by a management buyout in 1993 and went public with a London stock market listing in 1996. There are 26 business and 130 specialist capability areas in the Ultra group. No single civil or military programme accounts for more than 5% of sales in any year.
The AMI deal is a critical addition to Ultra’s capability in secure data-links, which in turn is enhanced by 3e. An AMI power unit fed by a propane canister of the sort available in hardware stores to fuel a camping stove can keep a small UA in the air for days, according to chief executive Douglas Caster.
UAVs in that 50-300W power range are ideal for tactical surveillance by a platoon-sized infantry unit, but while they are too small for diesel power, they demand more than what batteries can deliver for long endurance. Thus, he says, AMI’s technology, developed in part with $45 million from the US defence department, is “a key enabler” for these small tactical UAVs.
Ultra is excited about the prospect of combining this power technology with its existing data-link product and, is working now to miniaturise – down to the size of “a couple of matchboxes” – a secure data-link it designed for the Thales Watchkeeper. This data-link can be used for remote control of a UA, as well as to return data from its surveillance payload to the operators. Ultra should soon to be able to offer a full package of power, control and data return.
Ultra also hopes to develop surveillance payloads, enabling it to offer a complete, integrated package of power, control, data gathering and data return capability. That ability would raise Ultra to the level of subsystem integrator. The 3e deal complements Ultra’s strengths in software-defined radios, communication systems and electronic warfare systems.