As global conflict escalates, CACI International Inc. announced it will acquire high-performance radio frequency (RF) technology company Azure Summit Technology, Inc. for $1.275 billion. The all-cash deal is expected to close during the second quarter of 2025.
“Azure Summit’s core capabilities and technology bolster CACI’s market-based strategy by expanding our offerings in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), electronic warfare (EW), and signals intelligence (SIGINT) across multiple domains, platforms and customer sets,” John Mengucci, CACI President and CEO stated in the company’s press release. “In an environment of escalating global threats, the employees of both CACI and Azure Summit are culturally aligned and driven to support the most critical, sophisticated missions of our nation and our allies.”
Radio frequency waves are electromagnetic waves that can penetrate the air and most materials and has been widely used in communication – from radios to satellites to Bluetooth. The waves were discovered by German physicist Heinrich Hertz in the 1880s. Italian physicist Guglielmo Marconi sent the first wireless communication across the Atlantic Ocean as early as 1901.
The British effectively weaponized the waves during World War II, when they first used radar, which stands for radio detection and ranging. Based on faulty intelligence before the war that the Germans had produced a “death ray,” the UK Air Ministry began researching the possibility of such a devise, offering 1000 British Pounds to anyone able to build a ray that could kill a sheep 100 yards away. They concluded that such a weapon was impossible, but realized they could use radio waves to detect objects at long distances. Shortly before war broke out, the UK built a chain of radar stations across the nation’s southern coast. They used the new technology to detect the German Luftwaffe and eventually defeat them during the Battle of Britain.
ACLED Conflict Index: 2024
Today, radio frequency technology is used commercially for smart phones, satellites, GPS, and many other everyday conveniences – as well as for critical defense purposes. Azure Technology’s systems are used in UAVs, manned aircraft, and warships.
With conflicts arising across the globe, radio frequency technology is in high demand. Whether Japan is sending a destroyer through the strait of Taiwan to challenge China’s maritime claims, or Ukraine is seeking to fend off Russia’s invasion, such tech is crucial to these operations.
Israel has successfully deployed such technologies in its “Iron Dome,” system, which it used to intercept a ballistic missile fired by Hezbollah this week. First operational in 2011, the Iron Dome system uses radar to detect missiles, drones, and other threats, then it determines whether the object’s trajectory poses a threat to civilian or military targets, and then directs radar-guided missiles to hit the object midair. When Hamas initiated its attack on Israel in October 2023, it launched several thousand rockets – and the Iron Dome successfully intercepted approximately 90% of them.
According to DealPulse’s M&A database, which harnesses both AI and attorneys to digest the granular deal points of publicly announced transactions, CACI International is advised by law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Azure Summit Technology is advised by Holland & Knight LLP.
