Thales buys AAC to boost its US defence footprint

Thales Defense & Security, Inc. (TDSI), part of French multinational company Thales Group, has acquired full ownership of Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), their joint venture with Leonardo DRS.

AAC is one of the main US technical players in the fields of advanced sonar, training and knowledge management systems.

The company delivers modernization systems for the US Navy through an open business, open systems technology insertion model. It also has a history of providing systems and solutions across the US Navy’s undersea warfare domain.

“AAC’s skills and experience in surface ship Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), airborne ASW, and mine countermeasures will strengthen our support of the US DOD,” said Mike Sheehan, CEO of Thales Defence & Security, Inc. 

“Further, since its formation, the company has achieved solid performance while supporting the needs of the US Navy.”

According to Thales, the firm aims to increase its engineering and industrial footprint in the US defence market, with reinforced US-based teams and capabilities.

The parties have not disclosed the financial terms of the agreement.

Thales subsidiary in Australia recently entered a teaming agreement with Ocius Technologies to advance the development and deployment of a scalable unmanned surface vehicle (USV) capability equipped for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and surveillance missions.