Momentum Aviation Group (MAG), a private-equity-backed firm that carries out manned aerial surveillance in remote areas for the U.S. military, NATO and the United Nations, on Thursday said it had acquired privately held BOSH Global Services, which does similar work using drones.

Joe Fluet, who founded MAG in 2009, told Reuters the firm would have combined revenues of $80 million to $100 million, a workforce of about 400 people, and operations in five continents.

He said both companies were leaders in their respective sectors, and the combination would create the only commercial firm offering such a broad range of surveillance in remote areas using fixed wing, rotary wing, and unmanned aircraft.

Budget pressures in recent years have prompted the Pentagon to hire commercial firms to carry out and process surveillance in remote areas, a practice that allows quicker technology updates than are possible with often cumbersome Pentagon acquisition procedures.

"We specialize in some of the most challenging projects in the most remote places," Fluet said. "There are very few, and often no other companies that can operate in such environments at the level of complexity at which we operate, so we don't have a lot of competition."

BOSH provides surveillance services using small, medium and large drones, and other services, to federal, international, and commercial clients worldwide, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Special Operations forces, and Afghan forces.

The combined firm, which hires former military drone pilots and other experts, said it plans to deploy BOSH's SuperSwiper unmanned aerial system to Europe as part of a communications and surveillance contract for an unnamed intergovernmental organization.

Fluet said he expected growing demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance would underpin demand for the company's services for years to come. He said MAG had helped authorities catch and disrupt operations with over $500 million of illegal narcotics in the past 14 months.

During its first mission for the United Nations in the Congo, MAG employees operating a drone over Lake Kivu near Goma discovered a capsized ferry boat and called in the marine patrol, which ultimately saved 14 of 21 people on board.

Fluet said MAG allowed cash-strapped law enforcement agencies and others to benefit from high-end surveillance sensors without having to buy the equipment themselves.

He said the company was also often called on to put into operation new classified sensors that were developed and tested by the government.

 

reuters.com

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