Shield AI is acquiring Echodyne, a provider of counter-drone radar systems, in a 5.3 billion dollar deal the companies announced on Thursday. Of the total, 4.8 billion dollars will be paid at closing and a further 500 million dollars is payable if Echodyne meets specified performance targets. The deal is expected to close in early 2027 and gives Shield an in-house counter-UAS offering. Coinciding with the acquisition, Shield raised 2.5 billion dollars through Series H funding and investments from Blackstone and JPMorgan Chase.
Echodyne makes the Metamaterials Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar system, which the Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 selected in September to supply counter-drone systems to the US military. The company says its counter-drone systems are used by defence, government and commercial customers in more than 40 countries. Echodyne will operate as a business unit within Shield’s mission systems business, with chief executive Eben Frankenberg staying on and reporting to Shield chief executive Gary Steele. There are no planned workforce reductions and Echodyne employees will not be required to relocate, according to a Shield spokesperson.
The acquisition continues Shield’s pattern of expanding by purchase: its V-Bat drone, and with it the path to the larger X-Bat autonomous fighter, came from the 2021 acquisition of Martin UAV, and earlier this year the firm closed on the purchase of simulation software company Aechelon Technologies. Shield said the Echodyne deal has no impact on its separate decision to work with RTX on a radar for X-Bat. Steele said the acquisition accelerates the company’s efforts to meet demand for multi-mission capabilities and diversifies its revenue, leaving the company organised in three parts: autonomy software, autonomous systems and mission systems. The company, which said earlier this week that it planned to raise at least 1 billion dollars early next year, will continue to look at acquisitions as part of its growth strategy, its spokesperson said.