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Market Signal: Defense M&A

Lockheed brings Ultra Maritime into its undersea supply chain

Published July 11, 2026 / Naval defense M&A and undersea warfare suppliers

Lockheed Martin is buying Ultra Maritime from Advent for $3.45bn, shortly after Thales announced its acquisition of Exail for around $4.5bn.

Both deals for these naval defense companies sit within the same strategic context: increasingly contested maritime security, renewed focus on undersea warfare, and current pressure around key chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz.

$3.45B

Lockheed Martin / Ultra Maritime deal value

$257M

recent AN/SSQ-53H sonobuoy award in 2025

$114M

recent Mk 54 Mod 0 array kit award

$784M

Ultra Maritime reported 2026 revenue outlook

Program positions

Ultra Maritime was already a meaningful supplier into Lockheed's undersea portfolio, including Mk 48 torpedo-related array and nose-array work.

Mk 48

torpedo-related array and nose-array work

Mk 54

array kits

NIXIE AN/SLQ-25E

torpedo countermeasure

TR-343 / TR-353

sonar transducers

ADC Mk 2 / Mk 3

acoustic device countermeasures

AN/SSQ-53H

sonobuoys

AN/SSQ-125

sonobuoy-related work

P-8 / MH-60R

ASW platforms

Footprint

Braintree, MA
Ultra Electronics Ocean Systems
Columbia City, IN
undersea sensor systems
Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
Ultra Maritime Systems
Greenford, UK
Ultra Electronics site
Victor, NY / Chantilly, VA
engineering and undersea lineage

Supplier groups

Key suppliers into Ultra Maritime sites include RF and microwave specialists, radomes and antenna structures, precision machining, acoustic components, rugged electronics and harnessing.

RF / microwave

Rantec Microwave, Stellant / Comtech

Radomes and antenna structures

CPI Radant

Precision machining and assemblies

J&E Precision Tool, F.H. Peterson

Materials and acoustic components

MI-Tech Tungsten, Mica-Tron, Falmouth Scientific

Rugged compute and electronics

Rugged Systems, Kontron, Vadatech

Cables, connectors and harnessing

Syncom, Glenair, Sechan

Post-close supply chain

Post-close, these suppliers become part of a Lockheed-managed undersea supply chain. For some vendors, that could mean stronger program visibility if Lockheed scales production or pulls Ultra more tightly into its naval systems portfolio.

Context

Thales / Exail is the parallel maritime-security marker. Both deals point to the same undersea and autonomous-sensing demand environment.

What the signal says

01

Ultra was already connected to Lockheed's undersea portfolio.

Ultra Maritime was a meaningful supplier into Lockheed's undersea work, including Mk 48 torpedo-related array and nose-array activity.

02

The supplier base shifts into a Lockheed-managed portfolio.

Post-close, specialist suppliers into Ultra Maritime sites become part of a Lockheed-managed undersea supply chain.

03

The attraction is not only the current ASW portfolio.

Advent highlighted industrial capacity and next-generation autonomous solutions, which fit future distributed and unmanned maritime sensing concepts.

Notes

Sources: company announcements, public prime and subcontract procurement data, DLA references, company disclosures, Mimir Data Platform and Modeling. Supplier references are relevant to Ultra Maritime sites and related undersea warfare positions; they are not a definitive bill of material.