Raytheon acquires Tucson drone maker

Raytheon Co. has acquired privately-held Sensintel Inc., a Tucson-based provider of unmanned aircraft systems for the intelligence and special operations markets.

Sensintel, which has about 50 employees, will become part of Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems, Raytheon said in a news release. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Sensintel has its roots in Advanced Ceramics Research, a materials and unmanned aircraft firm founded in 1989 and acquired by defense giant BAE Systems in 2009 in a stock deal worth $14.7 million. Last year Matt Pobloske, a former Advanced Ceramics Research executive who joined BAE after the deal, acquired the local operation from BAE.

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“Sensintel’s expertise in unmanned aircraft systems solutions makes it a natural fit with Raytheon’s Advanced Missile Systems product line,” Raytheon Missile Systems President Taylor Lawrence said in prepared remarks.

Sensintel makes drones for intelligence and research and has worked with the U.S. Special Operations Command, the Office of Naval Research, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Last year, NOAA began a project in which Sensintel’s small Coyote drones are dropped into hurricanes to gather data.