A&D Weekly News & Transactions - Week 33

Industry Headline News

AllClear Aerospace & Defense appoints Bill Boucek as Chief Executive Officer
Aug. 18, 2025 - AllClear Aerospace & Defense, a global provider of critical aftermarket components and sustainment services for military aircraft, has named Bill Boucek as its new CEO following a major recapitalization that reduced debt and secured fresh funding. Boucek brings over 20 years of U.S. Navy and Department of Defense logistics and supply-chain leadership—spanning roles at the Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the private sector, including launching Grant Thornton's national supply-chain practice and leading KMM. His appointment, at this pivotal juncture, aims to drive operational transformation, capitalize on growth opportunities domestically and internationally, and strengthen the company's financial and strategic positioning. (AllClear Aerospace & Defense)

South Korean defense firms deliver record-breaking H1 profits amid booming exports
Aug. 18, 2025 - South Korea’s top five defence firms—Hanwha Aerospace, LIG Nex1, KAI, Hyundai Rotem, and Hanwha Systems—posted combined operating profits of 2.3 trillion won (≈ $1.7 billion) in H1 2025, up 161.2% from 880.7 billion won a year earlier, with sales nearly doubling to 19.2 trillion won. (Defence Blog)

Morocco nears $600 million KC-390 jet deal to modernize airlift fleet
Aug. 17, 2025 - Morocco is close to finalizing a military aircraft acquisition with Brazil’s Embraer to purchase four to five KC-390 Millennium transport jets in a deal that could exceed $600 million. The transaction—aimed at replacing aging C-130H cargo planes—complements Rabat’s 2024 defense budget of approximately $13 billion, and follows a prior MoU to build an integrated aviation center with Embraer involving $1 billion in investment and creating 1,000 jobs by 2035. The KC-390 offers modern, multi-role capabilities—handling up to 26 tonnes of payload, cruising at nearly 988 km/h, reaching a service ceiling of 10,973 m, and supporting long-range and versatile transport operations. (Morocco World News)

C100 Drone enhances F-35A strike precision in U.S. airpower demonstration
Aug. 16, 2025 - Performance Drone Works conducted a demonstration combining its C100 quadcopter with an F-35A Lightning II, using a Leonardo STAG5 laser designator to mark ground targets at 1,000, 1,500, and 2,000 meters. The F-35A released and guided four inert GBU-12 Paveway II bombs onto those targets with precision, as captured on footage; the U.S. Air Force has not commented publicly. The C100, a Group 2 tactical drone with 74-minute endurance and a 10-km range, is already in use by the U.S. Army, serving as an organic fires platform capable of target designation, ISR, resupply, and more, while reducing operator risk. (Army Recognition)

Coherent to sell Aerospace & Defense business to private equity firm Advent for $400 million
Aug. 13, 2025 - Coherent Corp. has signed a definitive agreement to divest its Aerospace and Defense business to Advent, a global private equity investor, for $400 million. The sale—which covers approximately 550 employees across 10 geographic sites—is slated to close in the third quarter of 2025, subject to standard closing conditions. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce debt and are expected to be immediately accretive to Coherent’s earnings per share (EPS); Advent plans to invest heavily in R&D to bolster the business’s leadership in advanced laser and optical solutions. (Finance Yahoo)

Poland signs $3.8 billion deal to upgrade F-16 fighter jets
Aug. 13, 2025 - Poland has inked a $3.8 billion contract to modernize its fleet of 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ fighter jets (originally delivered between 2006 and 2008), carrying out the upgrades at the Wojskowe Zakłady Lotnicze Nr 2 military aviation plant in Bydgoszcz. The enhancements—aimed at boosting reconnaissance, communications, multi-domain integration with F-35s, Abrams tanks, and Apache helicopters—target upgrading the aircraft to the F-16V standard. The deal aligns with Poland’s broader defense strategy to raise spending to 5% of GDP by 2026 and comes shortly after a similar multi-billion-dollar agreement with South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem for battle tanks. (Reuters)

Teal Drones achieves AS9100 Certification, strengthening Red Cat’s defense manufacturing credentials
Aug. 13, 2025 - Red Cat Holdings said its Teal Drones subsidiary earned AS9100 certification from NSF-ISR in July 2025, validating quality management across design, manufacturing, and maintenance. The certification highlights Teal’s role as producer of the NDAA-compliant Black Widow drone selected for the U.S. Army’s Short-Range Reconnaissance program. Red Cat noted the milestone comes as the company expands facilities and manufacturing capacity to meet rising demand. (Stock Titan)

Weekly Transaction Review

No.	Parties Involved	Transaction Metrics			Location	Segment
	Target [Parent] Acquirer [Parent]	Price ($M)	Price/ Revenue	Price/ EBITDA	Target	Target
1	Precise Flight Signia Aerospace [Arcline]	-	-	-	Bend, OR	Components & Subsystems
2	US Federal IT business of QinetiQ [QinetiQ] V2X	$31.0	-	-	Lofton, VA	Government Services, IT Services and Software
3	Aerostrat AAR	$20.0	-	-	Seattle, WA	MRO & Logistics
4	A&D business of Coherent [Coherent] Advent International	$400.0	5.0x	-	Murrieta, GA	Defense Electronics
5	GovOS [Audax] Neumo [Arlington Capital]	-	-	-	Austin, TX	Government Services, IT Services and Software
6	Merlin Labs Bleichroeder Acquisition Corp. I	$800.0	-	-	New York, NY	Unmanned Vehicles
7	CyberCX Accenture	$649.3	-	-	Melbourne, CA	Cybersecurity, Intelligence Services and Homeland Defense

No.	Target Descriptions
1	Precise Flight is a manufacturer of advanced aircraft lighting, oxygen delivery systems, and safety technologies for private sector and U.S. federal government aerospace and defense markets. The company's products include aircraft lighting, fixed and portable oxygen systems, Speedbrakes, and Twistlock Cup Holder systems.
2	The US Federal IT business of QinetiQ specializes in data engineering, intel mission support, and cyber solutions for the intelligence community.
3	Aerostrat is a long-range aviation maintenance planning software provider used by airlines, MROs, and cargo companies to automate complex scheduling, ensure production capacity, and simplify aircraft allocation. The company's flagship tool, Aerros, provides long-range heavy maintenance planning solutions to operators and MROs, regardless of the maintenance ERP system in use.
4	Business of Coherent is a provider of highly engineered materials and material systems for defense and aerospace applications. The business manufactures passive and active optical assemblies, gimbaled systems, laser beam directors, reflective and refractive telescopes, high temperature patterned ceramics, emi shielding grids, flexible patterned films, and thin film coatings.
5	GovOS is a provider of cloud-based transaction and compliance software solutions for city, county, and state agencies across the United States. Government bodies use GovOS products to maximize revenue, increase compliance, reduce costs, and meet constituent demand for modern, self-service transaction and payment services.
6	Merlin is an aviation start up firm developing autonomous flight technology and software for fixed-wing aircraft in private sector and U.S. federal government markets. The company's avionics system uses GPS, inertial navigation systems, air data, and altitude and heading reference systems to establish an aircraft's current position and altitude.
7	CyberCX is a provider of cybersecurity solutions to private sector, U.S. federal government, and international government markets. The company's end-to-end services extend across consulting, transformation and managed security services and include advanced capabilities in offensive security and cyber physical security, crisis management, threat intelligence, managed detection and response, as well as strategic advisory, identity, cloud and network security.