Lockheed Martin Buys Ultra Maritime, Adding Sonar Powerhouse to Its Arsenal

Lockheed Martin is snapping up naval defense firm Ultra Maritime for $3.45 billion, turbocharging its anti-submarine warfare portfolio as surging global defense budgets and China’s submarine buildup reshape undersea warfare.

Lockheed Martin agreed Monday to buy Ultra Maritime, a leader in anti-submarine warfare technology, from private equity firm Advent for $3.45 billion, expanding its sonar and undersea sensing capabilities.

The acquisition will fold Ultra Maritime’s sonar systems, sonobuoys and torpedo defense technology into Lockheed’s Rotary and Mission Systems division, which posted $17.3 billion in revenue last year and employs 35,000 people worldwide.

It comes as President Donald Trump seeks a record $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027 — a 42% jump over current funding levels, according to the Department of War — an increase some analysts say is the largest since World War II — while sustained conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, along with China’s expanding submarine fleet, drive demand for advanced anti-submarine warfare systems. Global military spending reached a record $2.887 trillion in 2025, the 11th straight year of growth, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Lockheed signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ultra Maritime from Cobham Ultra, a portfolio company of private equity firm Advent International, the companies said. The deal represents roughly 2.7% of Lockheed’s approximately $126 billion market capitalization as of early July 2026. It is subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions, and no completion timeline was disclosed.

Citi is serving as Lockheed’s financial adviser, with Hogan Lovells as legal counsel and Fried Frank as tax counsel. JPMorgan and Guggenheim advised Advent on the sale.

Ultra Maritime develops sonar technologies, sonobuoys, torpedo defense systems, radar solutions and autonomous maritime sensing platforms used in anti-submarine warfare. Its product lines include hull-mounted and towed sonar arrays, miniaturized half-size sonobuoys with multi-static active capabilities, torpedo defense systems and the Sea Spear deployable acoustic array. The company operates in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Royal Australian Navy Hunter-class frigates are fitted with Ultra Maritime’s 2150 Bow Sonar, and the Royal Canadian Navy has awarded the company hull-mounted sonar contracts for its River-class destroyers through Lockheed Martin Canada. In June 2025, Ultra Maritime won a 200 million Canadian dollar contract with the Royal Netherlands Navy and Belgian Navy for its Low-Frequency Active Passive Sonar suite.

“Undersea superiority belongs to those who move fastest and work together best,” said Stephanie C. Hill, president of Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems. “By joining forces with Ultra, we’re accelerating our commitment to deliver the most advanced undersea and anti-submarine warfare capabilities to our U.S. and allied partners across the globe.”

Lockheed said Ultra Maritime’s international presence and portfolio of exportable anti-submarine warfare technologies will complement and expand its existing sonar business. Once the deal closes, Ultra Maritime’s team will join Lockheed’s Rotary and Mission Systems business area.

Advent acquired British aerospace company Cobham in 2020 for approximately 4 billion pounds, or about $5 billion. Cobham later agreed in August 2021 to buy Ultra Electronics for approximately 2.57 billion pounds, or about $3.56 billion, and completed the acquisition in 2022, forming Cobham Ultra and carving out Ultra Maritime as a distinct unit.

Since 2022, Advent has invested about $170 million in Ultra Maritime’s product development and manufacturing capacity, and the company’s annual revenue has grown roughly 17% a year under Advent’s ownership. Ultra Maritime is expected to report 2026 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of estimated $150 million to $160 million, implying a roughly 20 times EBITDA multiple in the deal price. Its annual revenue is on track to reach approximately $784 million in 2026.

“When we invested in Ultra Maritime in 2022, we saw a business with mission-critical technology and a vital role in protecting allied nations from undersea threats, but one that had been underinvested and was not yet fully delivering for its customers,” said Shonnel Malani, managing partner at Advent and chair of the board at Ultra Electronics. “Over the past four years, we have changed that. Ultra Maritime is now a stronger, more innovative partner to allied navies — with improved execution, greater industrial capacity and next-generation autonomous solutions that position it well for future warfare.”

“Advent’s partnership and investment have been transformative for our business,” said Carlo Zaffanella, president and CEO of Ultra Maritime. “Since 2022, we have developed and delivered an independent sonobuoy capability, redesigned our manufacturing facilities, and introduced groundbreaking modular sonar and autonomous acoustic sensing systems for our customers.” Zaffanella said the company has also strengthened its position in torpedo technologies, towed and hull-mounted sonars, radar solutions and torpedo countermeasures. “I’m incredibly proud of what our team has accomplished and the way we have supported our customers’ evolving missions,” he said. “I am excited to build on that momentum as Ultra Maritime enters our next chapter.”

Ultra Maritime has struck two partnerships in the past year that boosted its standing as a supplier of unmanned systems. Anduril Industries and Ultra Maritime announced an exclusive partnership in April 2025 to develop unmanned subsea sensing, combining Ultra Maritime’s Sea Spear acoustic arrays with Anduril’s Dive XL underwater drone and Seabed Sentry payload system. In May 2025, Ultra Maritime and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced a partnership pairing GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian drone with Ultra Maritime’s miniaturized sonobuoys to detect submarines in GPS-denied environments, an approach the companies began demonstrating in the Indo-Pacific region in 2025.

Other strategic bidders considered before Lockheed emerged as the winner included L3Harris, Leonardo DRS, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems. If completed, the Ultra Maritime purchase would be Lockheed’s fourth deal in 2026. The company has also secured a seven-year contract worth up to $35 billion for THAAD interceptor production, an $8.4 billion contract modification expanding Precision Strike Missile output, and a $2.99 billion contract for Sentinel A4 radar production this year.

Ultra Electronics was a British defense and security company listed on the London Stock Exchange before Cobham’s acquisition. The British government issued a national security intervention notice over the Cobham deal in September 2019, requiring a review by the Competition and Markets Authority. Advent, founded in 1984, has more than $94 billion in assets under management and has made 451 investments across 45 countries, with 17 offices on five continents.

Ultra Maritime was also awarded a Royal Canadian Navy River-class destroyer lifecycle support contract and a Royal Australian Navy acoustic decoy countermeasure supply contract, both announced in May 2026, adding to its revenue visibility after the Lockheed deal closes.

European military spending rose 14% in 2025 to $864 billion, with Germany’s spending up 24% and Spain’s up 50%, according to SIPRI — a rearmament wave that expands the export market for Ultra Maritime’s technology. The global underwater warfare market was valued at $26.01 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $54.76 billion by 2035, a 7% annual growth rate, according to Market Research Future.

Lockheed Martin is scheduled to hold its second-quarter earnings call July 23, when analysts expect the company to provide additional detail on funding and synergy targets for the Ultra Maritime acquisition. Lockheed reported $75 billion in total sales for 2025, a 6% increase from the prior year, and ended the year with a record backlog of $194 billion.