UK-based engineering firm QinetiQ has acquired defense aviation service provider Air Affairs Australia.
The purchase agreement was secured in October and finalized this month.
Alongside integrating the aviation company as a wholly-owned subsidiary, QinetiQ Group is expected to establish a strategic partnership with the Australian Defence Forces.
“The acquisition further strengthens our long-term strategic partnership with the Australian Defence Force and underpins our market leading position in T&E (technology and engineering) and air threat representation globally,” QinetiQ Group CEO Steve Wadey explained.
Reinforcing Growth Strategy
According to QinetiQ, the procurement will pave the way for expanding its industrial solutions and resources related to training, threat representation, and capability evaluations.
Adding Air Affairs Australia to QinetiQ businesses will also support programs for commercial customers in the Australian market.
“The acquisition is an excellent strategic and cultural fit that grows our revenues in Australia by 40 percent, and further reinforces the focus of our growth strategy on our six distinctive offerings in our three home countries, delivering mission critical solutions for our customers,” Wadey said.
‘Providing Greater Value’
Air Affairs Australia focuses on airborne threat representation, unmanned targets, mission rehearsal services, electronic capabilities, and surveillance and reconnaissance support.
It is headquartered in Nowra, New South Wales, and has approximately 180 employees.
“For more than 25 years the Air Affairs Australia team have been delivering critical sovereign capability as a trusted partner to Defence. I’m excited to embark on this next chapter together, continuing to build important training, test and evaluation, and engineering capability in Australia,” QinetiQ Australia Managing Director Greg Barsby said.
“We are looking forward to working together to deliver even greater value to our Defence and industry customers,” Air Affairs Australia CEO Chris Sievers added.
We are pleased to have completed the acquisition of Air Affairs, a leader in air threat representation, Test & Evaluation (T&E), unmanned targets and mission rehearsal in the Australian market. Read more below.#TestandEvaluation #Defence #Defensehttps://t.co/2y3X0skNmE pic.twitter.com/NzhWDcuxUc
— QinetiQ Group (@QinetiQ) December 6, 2022
