{"id":13746,"date":"2018-06-07T20:48:39","date_gmt":"2018-06-07T12:48:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/northrop-grumman-completes-orbital-atk-acquisition\/"},"modified":"2018-06-07T20:48:39","modified_gmt":"2018-06-07T12:48:39","slug":"northrop-grumman-completes-orbital-atk-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/northrop-grumman-completes-orbital-atk-acquisition\/","title":{"rendered":"Northrop Grumman completes Orbital ATK acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"
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File photo of an Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft, developed by Orbital ATK to haul cargo to the International Space Station. Photo credit: Northrop Grumman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Northrop Grumman concluded its purchase of Orbital ATK on Wednesday, with the absorption of launch vehicle developer, satellite manufacturer, and munitions supplier as a new business unit named Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.<\/p>\n

The $9.2 billion acquisition, executed with a $7.8 billion cash purchase and a $1.4 billion debt transfer, closed a day after the Federal Trade Commission cleared the transaction to proceed with a provision requiring Northrop Grumman to make Orbital ATK-developed solid rocket motors available to other defense and aerospace contractors.<\/p>\n

Officials expect no immediate changes to Orbital ATK\u2019s major space initiatives, such as its cargo resupply program for the International Space Station, a new rocket in development to compete with SpaceX and United Launch Alliance for U.S. military launch contracts, and its role as a builder of commercial communications satellites and military spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome Orbital ATK\u2019s talented employees,\u201d said Wes Bush, chairman and chief executive officer of Northrop Grumman, in a statement. \u201cWe are delighted to have them join the Northrop Grumman team, and we are very excited about the value creation our combination represents for our customers, shareholders and employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, through our leading technologies and innovation-focused culture, we look forward to developing enhanced mission capabilities and more competitive offerings in critical global security domains,\u201d Bush said.<\/p>\n

Northrop Grumman and Orbital ATK announced the acquisition last September. Orbital ATK\u2019s shareholders and U.S. and international regulatory agencies had to approve the deal.<\/p>\n

Before its purchase of Orbital ATK, Northrop Grumman was not a leading player in the launch industry, but it has a long history in producing spacecraft. The company\u2019s space facility in Redondo Beach, California, is building the spacecraft bus for the James Webb Space Telescope. Northrop Grumman also builds airplanes and airplane components, and supplies radars, avionics and other components to military customers.<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK built smaller satellites and light- and medium-class launchers, supported missile defense programs, and produced ammunition.<\/p>\n

Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, with 13,000 employees and major sites in eight states, Orbital ATK was formed in early 2015 with the merger of Orbital Sciences and ATK. The corporate marriage combined Orbital\u2019s satellite manufacturing, missile and launcher expertise with ATK\u2019s solid propulsion and composite structure heritage.<\/p>\n

In a statement announcing the FTC\u2019s approval of the acquisition, Northrop Grumman said the commission\u2019s order required \u201csolid rocket motors to be available on a non-discriminatory basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FTC said Northrop Grumman is one of four companies capable of supplying the U.S. military with tactical missiles, strategic missiles, and missile interceptors.<\/p>\n

The commission said in a statement that Northrop Grumman\u2019s acquisition of Orbital ATK, if allowed to go forward without conditions, \u201cwould have reduced competition in the market for missile systems purchased by the U.S. government, resulting in less innovation and higher prices for taxpayers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy ensuring that other missile suppliers can continue to compete, the settlement preserves the procompetitive benefits of the transaction while addressing the potential anticompetitive harms,\u201d the FTC statement said.<\/p>\n

In remarks during an April conference call with investment analysts, Bush said Northrop Grumman and Orbital ATK were \u201ca very complementary match.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNorthrop tends to focus on the larger systems that have a set of mission applications that is attendent with that class of platform, whereas Orbital ATK has demonstrated a very significant capability in the small and medium size, and I would say, more agile class of spacecraft.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about what is happening in the space environment today, we are clearly moving into an arena where we need a mix of those capabilities to address the set of missions that we need to address, particularly given the contested environment that is not only the future of space, but that is the today of space,\u201d Bush said. \u201cIt\u2019s on us already.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ability to bring to the customer set a full range of offerings will be significantly enhanced with this coming together of the companies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Blake Larson, Orbital ATK\u2019s chief operating officer since 2015 and a former head of ATK\u2019s aerospace business, will lead Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

File photo of an Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft, developed by Orbital ATK to haul cargo to the International Space Station. Photo credit: Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman concluded its purchase of Orbital ATK on Wednesday, with the absorption of launch vehicle developer, satellite manufacturer, and munitions supplier as a new business unit named Northrop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,2932,554,2570,2899],"class_list":["post-13746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-ma","tag-northrop-grumman","tag-northrop-grumman-innovation-systems","tag-orbital-atk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}