Acquisition to unite battle-tested air, surface and subsea autonomous platforms with scaled domestic manufacturing and a mission-focused culture aligned to DoW priorities.
AEVEX, a leading US defence technology company specialising in autonomous systems, AI-enabled mission software and advanced ISR and electronic warfare solutions, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BlackSea Technologies (BlackSea), one of the largest providers of unmanned surface and subsea vessels in the US defence market.
Under the terms of the agreement, AEVEX will acquire BlackSea for up to US$650 million on a cash-free, debt-free basis, consisting of approximately US$250 million in cash and approximately US$350 million in shares of Class A common stock of AEVEX priced at US$27.50/share (approximately 12.7M shares). The transaction also includes US$50 million in performance-based earnout consideration.
The acquisition is expected to expand AEVEX’s leadership in multi-domain autonomous systems.
AEVEX and BlackSea together will form one of the industry’s most comprehensive autonomous systems portfolio, spanning Groups I-V UAS, USVs, UUVs, contested logistics vessels, long-range ISR platforms, mission autonomy software and deployable additive manufacturing.
BlackSea’s Navy customer base opens a major portion of the US maritime autonomy market to which AEVEX previously did not have access, expanding the company’s addressable market across the USV and UAS categories.
AEVEX intends to integrate the CompassX autonomy ecosystem with certain BlackSea maritime platforms, enabling multi-domain coordination, assured navigation in GPS-denied environments and rapid payload integration across air and maritime systems.
AEVEX’s US manufacturing scale will combine with BlackSea’s 57,000-sq-ft Baltimore production facility featuring deepwater access and advanced robotics. This combined manufacturing depth is expected to enable rapid delivery at an operationally relevant tempo for the DoW and allied customers.
BlackSea is expected to generate US$150 million in FY 2026 revenue, with margins in line with AEVEX’s. In addition, BlackSea is expected to bring multi-year contract visibility, supporting an expectation of above-market growth in FY 2027 and beyond.
The AEVEX and BlackSea combination will unite complementary customer sets, accelerating BlackSea’s growth through AEVEX’s established access while diversifying AEVEX’s multi-domain programme mix.
Mission continuity to remain uninterrupted for customers, vendors and contracted programmes throughout integration.
“This is exactly the kind of acquisition that aligns with our strategic priorities,” said Roger Wells, CEO, AEVEX. “BlackSea adds meaningful maritime scale to our mission with operationally proven platforms, deep customer relationships, and real production capacity that matches customer requirements. Together, we intend to create one of the largest pure-play multi-domain autonomous systems providers, delivering effects to the battlefield across air, surface, and subsea domains.”
“Joining AEVEX is a natural next step for BlackSea,” said Bob Pudney, CEO, BlackSea. “We’ve spent years building and deploying autonomous maritime systems in real-world environments, from hybrid fleet operations to contested logistics, and AEVEX brings the scale, manufacturing depth, and autonomy ecosystem needed to accelerate everything we’ve built. Our mission stays the same; our ability to deliver it grows.”
