Thales to Acquire Tampa Microwave

Thales today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Tampa Microwave, a privately held company specializing in tactical satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals and related products for government and commercial customers. The acquisition is conditional upon receiving certain regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the first quarter of 2012.

Tampa Microwave's core capabilities include the design, development, and manufacturing of SATCOM terminals as well as custom SATCOM engineering and customer support. The company's strategic focus areas complement Thales's existing product portfolio and will expand its capabilities in the wideband SATCOM domain. "Tampa Microwave has established itself as an industry leader in the SATCOM market and will add significant depth and breadth to Thales's existing portfolio," said Allan Cameron, President and CEO of Thales USA. "The acquisition is a demonstration of Thales's commitment to build on its core capabilities in direct support of its long term growth prospects."

Tampa Microwave will operate as a subsidiary of Thales Communications, Inc., a Thales USA company which operates under a proxy agreement with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). The business will maintain its location in Tampa, Florida and the current Tampa Microwave management team will remain unchanged. The combination of technology, infrastructure, financial resources and facilities will allow Thales to offer its customers wideband, beyond line of sight communications technology in environments where lower size, weight, and power are critical in helping warfighters complete their missions more safely and effectively.

"The acquisition provides Thales with the capability to support DoD initiatives for wideband technology—voice, video, and data—at the tactical level," said Michael Sheehan, President and CEO of Thales Communications. "Combining the strengths of both our companies will result in greater innovations which will help better serve the needs of our customers."

Tampa Microwave President Eric Guerrazzi added, "Being partnered with Thales will provide Tampa Microwave with resources and access to innovative technology to better support our customers. We will also benefit from Thales's global reach as we seek to market our family of SATCOM terminals (X, Ku and Ka frequency bands) to new and existing customers."

Thales Communications is a global leader in the development, manufacture, and support of software-defined radio equipment for the ground, naval, airborne, and homeland security domains and has fielded more than 200,000 software-defined radios worldwide.