Leidos Australia has announced it has entered into an agreement with Cobham Aviation Services Australia to acquire its Special Mission business.
Cobham Special Mission provides CoastWatch border surveillance services to the Australian Border Force with a fleet of 11 Bombardier Dash 8-200/300 turboprops, and and search and rescue services for the Australian Maritime Safety Agency (AMSA) with four Bombardier CL-604 jet aircraft.
“Cobham’s Special Mission team conducts essential operations that protect Australia’s borders, support law enforcement and environmental protection and save lives,” Leidos Chairman and CEO, Roger Krone said in a 2 August release. “The integration of Special Mission into Leidos Australia will expand the scope of our global airborne ISR capabilities, diversify revenues, and open up new growth avenues.”
Leidos Australia Chief Executive, Paul Chase added, “I have the greatest respect and admiration for Cobham’s Special Mission team and their performance in service to the Government. The addition of the Special Mission business will bring new, expansive services to our offerings across Australia. I look forward to working with this exceptional team.”
Cobham Aviation Services Chairman Kim Gillis said, “This is a perfect match. Leidos has remarkably complementary operations to Cobham Special Mission in airborne ISR, as well as deep platform integration expertise, and both organisations uphold exceptional track records of delivering mission critical services to government and defence customers.”
The announcement comes just two weeks after Cobham announced the sale of its commercial charter National Jet Express business which flies eight Q400 and six E-190 passenger aircraft to Regional Express (REX), and a year after it sold its air-to-air refuelling pod business to Eaton Mission Systems. If the two sales are finalised, it will effectively mean the end of Cobham’s business in Australia.
It was also announced in late July that the Dash 8s would be upgraded with Raytheon Technologies SeaVue Multi-Role (MR) airborne radars and new flat panel displays. The new radars feature inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging and range profiling, as well as moving target indicator (MTI) detection.
