Systima technology, headquartered in Mukilteo, Washington, has been acquired by Carmen missile and space systems as part of Carmen’s entry into the space and hypersonic system infrastructure market.
Carmen, headquartered in Los Angeles, was funded by trive capital, a Dallas based private equity company, last year. In addition to systima, Kaman’s business units include AMRO, AAE aerospace, aerospace engineering and TMX engineering.
The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Systima currently has about 230 employees. Last year, it purchased the harbor Pointe technology center in Mukilteo as its headquarters for us $46.75 million. After the acquisition, systima’s leadership team will continue to serve as Kaman’s shareholder and senior leader.
The 21-year-old joint venture, founded by president Tom prenzlow, specializes in integrating energy and mechanical systems into the structural design of mission critical spaces and hypersonic systems. One of its fastest-growing product lines is the manufacture of high-performance composite structures, which use high-temperature materials to make missiles and launch platforms
Systima’s projects include the development of pyrotechnic powered hatch mechanisms for NASA’s Orion deep space crew module, the manufacture of annular breakaway joint systems for NASA’s heavy space launch system rockets, and the study of hypersonic flight and missile systems for the Department of defense.
These projects are very consistent with Kaman’s business plan.
“Over the past year, we have been paying attention to Carmen’s cooperation and firmly believe that the strategic concept of investing in space, missiles and hypersonic supply chain is absolutely critical,” prenzlo said in a press release. “Systima and Kaman’s great diversity, ability, talent team and incredible complementarity make us believe that this is the ideal home for systima and its employees.”
Tony koblinski, chief executive of Kaman, said the acquisition was “another major milestone”
“Systima’s strong engineering capabilities enable Carmen to work with our customers in the early stages of platform development to determine how Carmen can add value,” he said.
David Stinnett, a partner at trive capital, said Carmen “can now handle highly engineered content from the top to the tail of the rocket.”