QinetiQ, a leading science and engineering company, has announced completion of the acquisition of Air Affairs Australia.

This follows the announcement on 4 October 2022 of an agreement to acquire Air Affairs Australia. The business will be a wholly owned subsidiary of QinetiQ Australia.

The acquisition of Air Affairs further establishes QinetiQ as a long-term, strategic partner to the Australian Defence Force and underpins QinetiQ’s strategic position as market leader in threat representation, training, test and evaluation.

Strategic and cultural fit

Steve Wadey, Group Chief Executive Officer of QinetiQ, said: “I am delighted that we have completed the acquisition of Air Affairs.

“The acquisition further strengthens our long-term strategic partnership with the Australian Defence Force and underpins our market leading position in T&E and air threat representation globally.

“The acquisition is an excellent strategic and cultural fit that grows our revenues in Australia by 40 per cent, and further reinforces the focus of our growth strategy on our six distinctive offerings in our three home countries, delivering mission critical solutions for our customers.”

Greg Barsby, Managing Director of QinetiQ Australia, said: “For more than 25 years the Air Affairs Australia team have been delivering critical sovereign capability as a trusted partner to Defence. I’m excited to embark on this next chapter together, continuing to build important training, test and evaluation, and engineering capability in Australia.”

New era

Chris Sievers, Chief Executive Officer of Air Affairs Australia, said: “It’s the beginning of a new era for all of us at Air Affairs Australia as we join the QinetiQ family. We are looking forward to working together to deliver even greater value to our defence and industry customers.”

Air Affairs Australia is an Australian defence services company – a leader in air threat representation, T&E, unmanned targets and mission rehearsal. Air Affairs Australia provides targets and training services, and electronic warfare capabilities to the Australian Defence Force, as well as aerial surveillance and reconnaissance in support of government firefighting efforts.

It owns and operates a fleet of special mission aircraft and maintains an advanced manufacturing and engineering facility providing design, manufacture and certification operations. Air Affairs Australia employs around 180 people, headquartered in Nowra, New South Wales.
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