Booz Allen to acquire Ultra Mission Solutions to propel defence tech business

Booz Allen Hamilton products, from left to right: Edge Xtend providing cloud services at the edge; Sit(x) for situational awareness; and Cardshark bodyworn compute device. (Booz Allen Hamilton)

Booz Allen Hamilton announced on 22 June that it has “entered into a definitive agreement with the Cobham Ultra Group, an Advent portfolio company, to acquire its Ultra I&C Mission Solutions business (Ultra Mission Solutions) for USD720 million”, according to a company statement.

Ultra Mission Solutions specialises in software, encryption, and edge-compute products, the statement noted.

“Booz Allen's portfolio of AI [artificial intelligence]-driven battle management, resilient communications, and edge infrastructure solutions — including the Modular Detachment Kit (MDK), EdgeXtend, and Sit(x) — will expand with Ultra Solutions' mission-ready tech stack. Ultra Mission Solutions' core offerings, including Apex, ADSI, ACTS, Rain, and Knox, unify command and control (C2), edge compute, secure data movement, and encryption into a modular architecture capable of operating in contested or disconnected environments. These solutions will now integrate into a unified platform available to national security clients worldwide,” the statement said.

“The acquisition will enable increased product integration and commercially available solutions accessible through outcomes-based procurement, Foreign Military Sales (FMS), and other go-to-market channels,” the statement added.

The acquisition is expected to close at the “end of summer, early fall” in the US, Steve Escaravage, president of the Defense Technology Group at Booz Allen Hamilton, told Janes on 26 June.

Mission tech

Booz Allen's Defense Technology Group is focused on four major components, he said.

The Ultra Mission Solutions acquisition is part of the company's ‘mission technology' strategy. The other components are warfighter technology, including soldier-borne and tactical systems; AI; and autonomy and applied AI, Escaravage said.