PARIS — Kratos Defense and Security Solutions’ Integral Systems division will provide tracking and telemetry gear to satellite fleet operator Measat of Malaysia to facilitate use of the Africasat-1a satellite scheduled for launch later this year, Kratos announced July 2.
San Diego-based Kratos has booked multiple contracts with Asian satellite operators in recent months, including a sale of Earth station hardware to AsiaSat of Hong Kong; and to Asia Broadcast Satellite of Hong Kong for that company’s Subic Bay, Philippines, facility.
Africasat-1a is under construction by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., and will be operated at 46 degrees east longitude under a strategic partnership between Measat and the government of Azerbaijan, which has registered for the orbital position.
Kratos also announced July 2 that it had completed its acquisition of unmanned aerial target vehicle manufacturer Composite Engineering Inc. (CEI). Kratos is paying $135 million in cash for CEI, plus Kratos stock valued at $20 million. The stock will be used in part as an incentive to keep current key CEI personnel on board for four years.
Kratos said CEI reported revenue of $94 million in 2011, up 25 percent over 2010 after removing CEI acquisitions from the equation. CEI had $160 million in backlog as of May 8, the day the planned acquisition was announced, and is expected to grow by “at least 20 percent” per year in the next few years, not taking into account any acquisitions, Kratos said.
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