July 6 (Reuters) – Lockheed Martin will buy naval defense company Ultra Maritime from private equity firm Advent for $3.45 billion, bolstering its portfolio as global demand for military technology surges.
After the closing of the deal, announced on Monday, Ultra Maritime will become a part of Lockheed’s rotary and mission systems, which reported revenue of $17.3 billion in 2025 and employs 35,000 people worldwide.
Sustained conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s $1.5 trillion defense budget request for 2027 are driving up demand for weapons and military technology, pushing defense contractors to expand their capabilities.
Ultra Maritime, specializing in anti-submarine warfare and undersea defense technologies, is a part of Cobham Ultra — created after Advent acquired British aerospace company Cobham in 2020 and then combined it with Ultra Electronics following its 2022 takeover.
Lockheed said Ultra Maritime’s international presence and a portfolio of exportable anti-submarine warfare technologies, including naval sonar sensing systems, will complement and expand its existing sonar solutions.
Earlier this year, Ultra Maritime received a development contract from the U.S. Navy for its underwater acoustic decoy, designed to protect ships or submarines from torpedoes.
In 2025, Ultra Maritime announced a partnership with Anduril Industries to advance autonomous ocean sensing, and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems to develop unmanned airborne anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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