FLIR buys another unmanned systems outfit

FLIR Systems has acquired Altavian, a privately-held maker of small unmanned aerial systems for customers in the defense and public sectors.

Terms of the deal announced Wednesday were undisclosed. Altavian is one of five drone manufacturers approved by the Defense Department to sell through DOD’s Blue sUAS program to U.S. military and federal agencies.

Blue sUAS is an initiative of the Defense Innovation Unit to make the drones available on the General Services Administration’s Schedule procurement.

Gainesville, Florida-based Altavian designs quadcopter and fixed-wing UAS systems along with the aeronautics, avionics and software to augment the vehicle.

This deal represents FLIR’s fourth acquisition in four years to further build its unmanned business, most notably including the $382 million purchase of Endeavor Robotics last year.

Other significant acquisitions included last year’s buy of Aeryon Labs and the deal for Prox Dynamics in 2016.