Curtiss-Wright Controls Acquires Skyquest Systems in Basildon

Rugged Video Display, Distribution and Recording Technology for Airborne Surveillance Aircraft

Curtiss-Wright Controls in North Carolina has acquired Skyquest Systems, an Essex-based supplier of aircraft video displays, recorders and video/radar converters for surveillance aircraft applications for £10 million, or approximately $16 million. The business will become part of Curtiss-Wright Controls' Embedded Computing group.

"The Skyquest product family complements our Embedded Computing product offering," said David Adams, co-chief operating officer of Curtiss-Wright Corporation. "The addition of Skyquest's airborne video solutions to our product family will expand our systems offering for customers looking for a total solutions provider for their mission critical applications. Furthermore, Curtiss-Wright Controls will be able to grow the Skyquest brand by providing it access to many new markets."  

Skyquest Systems Ltd was formed from two businesses, Skyquest Ltd and Real-Time Vision Ltd. Founded in 1996 and 1998 respectively, the two businesses have been operating under the trademark Skyquest Aviation. They have developed the Skyquest range of stand-alone rugged mission displays, digital video recorders and video distribution systems for aircraft and rotorcraft manufacturers and system integrators throughout the world. Customers for Skyquest's systems typically include police, customs, coast guard, border patrol, military, search & rescue, air ambulance and government agencies.
Skyquest's advanced display and recorder technology and Video Management System (VMS) has been successfully fielded in a broad range of demanding applications including SAR and border patrol operations. In the UK Skyquest's VMS is flown by London's Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit and in Australia, airborne surveillance units deploy the VMS on both fixed and rotary wing aircraft.
The VMS is a fully integrated systems that use touch-screen technology which enables observers and pilots to independently select, view and record the images they need, with no signal loss, from multiple camera and sensors. In addition transmission of video for downlink via microwave link is available. The company is also a market leader in the development of lightweight, airworthy High Definition (HD) video recorders for airborne surveillance.
The company had estimated 2009 sales of approximately $8 million.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Analyst Downgrades Moog, Curtiss-Wright Rating (abcnews.go.com)