Booz Allen to buy Ultra I&C Mission Solutions to bolster its defense technology portfolio

Booz Allen Hamilton has agreed to acquire the Ultra I&C Mission Solutions business from the Cobham Ultra Group, an Advent portfolio company, for $720 million, adding a portfolio of mission‑critical software, encryption, and edge‑compute products to its defense technology offerings.

The companies plan to combine capabilities to speed the integration of commercial technologies into national security missions and deliver products at greater scale to U.S. and allied customers.

“Technological superiority is essential to U.S. national security, and maintaining our advantage requires a relentless focus on speed and outcomes,” said Horacio Rozanski, Chairman and CEO of Booz Allen. “Booz Allen is strategically investing to accelerate delivery of our defense tech products into national security missions. Now, by integrating Ultra Mission Solutions into our robust portfolio, we are further strengthening our ability to rapidly build and field the commercial products that will keep America ahead.”

Booz Allen said its existing AI-driven battle management, resilient communications, and edge infrastructure products—including the Modular Detachment Kit (MDK), EdgeXtend™ and Sit(x)®—will be combined with Ultra Mission Solutions’ technology stack. Ultra Mission Solutions’ offerings—Apex, ADSI®, ACTS™, Rain™, and Knox™—bring command and control, edge compute, secure data movement, and encryption within a modular architecture designed for contested or disconnected environments. The integrated suite is slated to be offered to national security clients worldwide as a unified platform.

“We are investing in reliable, scalable solutions that help unite the defense technology ecosystem. This combination provides a foundation for our continued investment to harness advantage from commercial technology innovation,” said Steve Escaravage, president of Booz Allen’s defense technology business.

Booz Allen said the deal will broaden access to commercially available solutions through outcomes-based procurement, Foreign Military Sales, and other go-to-market channels.

“Our customers operate where failure isn’t an option, and meeting that standard has always defined our work,” said Mladen Brkic, president of Ultra Mission Solutions. “As part of Booz Allen, we’ll bring greater scale and investment to our employees, products and the critical technologies customers rely on in the most contested conditions and wherever the mission demands it.”

The company expects revenue tied to the acquisition to grow at a strong double-digit rate for the next several years, with EBITDA margins well above 20%. Closing is anticipated in the second quarter of Booz Allen’s fiscal year 2027, which ends September 30, 2026, subject to customary conditions. After closing, Ultra Mission Solutions will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary.

“Ultra Mission Solutions has established itself as a trusted partner to the U.S. military and its allies with a portfolio of capabilities designed for the next generation of national security missions,” said Mike Marshall, managing director at Advent. “We are proud to have invested in those leading-edge solutions and are confident that Booz Allen is the right home to scale that vision further.”

Advisors on the transaction include Jefferies LLC as exclusive financial advisor, PwC for accounting and tax, King & Spalding LLP as legal counsel, and Renaissance Strategic Advisors as strategic industry advisor to Booz Allen. Ultra Mission Solutions and Advent retained Baird as exclusive financial advisor, KPMG for accounting and tax, and Latham & Watkins LLP as legal counsel.

Ultra I&C Mission Solutions develops software, edge-compute, and encryption products to integrate and secure data at the tactical edge across three lines of business—Mission Software, Edge Compute, and Encryption Management. Its systems support U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, and allied programs with AI-enabled command and control, ruggedized multifunction processors, and modular encryption-management solutions. The U.S.-owned enterprise employs about 220 people, including roughly 135 specialized engineers, across five U.S. facilities and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Advent is a global private equity investor with a long-established strategy in the defense sector, noting more than $15 billion in enterprise value invested across the global defense space since 2020, including in Cobham, Ultra Electronics, Vantor, and Attalon.