Safran Electronics and Defense has bought emergency locator beacon and positioning avionics company Orolia.
Orolia employs more than 435 people in Europe and North America and has revenues of around €100 million (US$101 million). The company develops and supplies atomic clocks, time servers, simulation and resilience equipment for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), as well as emergency locator beacons for commercial aviation and military applications.
GNSS systems provide time and position data, but must be secured by combining them with accurate, high-integrity autonomous time or inertial references.
Safran Electronics and Defense said that Orolia’s product range was “highly complementary and synergistic” to its own and meets the challenges of positioning, navigation and synchronization in contested and vulnerable environments.
Safran Electronics & Defense is to offer a complete and cohesive set of resilient PNT (positioning navigation and timing) architectures and equipment to meet the challenges of integrity and robustness for the aviation, defense, space, transportation, new mobility and critical infrastructure markets.
Jean-Yves Courtois, CEO of Orolia, said, “Orolia could not imagine a better fit than with Safran to secure its growth and leverage its PNT leadership positions. Thanks to the addition of best-in-class timing and inertial technologies, premier access to the largest defense and aerospace markets, and a proven track-record in government program capture and execution, Safran and Orolia have now all the cards in hands to establish themselves as the Resilient PNT leader.”
Martin Sion, CEO of Safran Electronics and Defense said, “The acquisition of Orolia makes Safran one of the only companies with the full complement of PNT technologies, bringing together Orolia’s precise time referencing and Safran Electronics & Defense’s proven inertial navigation solutions. Our shared ambition is to become the world leader in resilient PNT for all conventional and strategic applications.”
