Bellevue, Wash.-based Esterline Corp. has bought another Orange County defense contractor.
Less than a year after buying Buena Park-based Leach International Corp., Esterline said last week it acquired Palomar Products Inc.
Palomar is a Rancho Santa Margarita company that makes military communication products and has annual sales of about $25 million.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The move should boost Palomar by giving it access to Esterline’s sales force and by upping business with commercial aerospace buyers, said Robert Cremin, chief executive of Esterline.
Palomar, which is more than 30 years old, provides audio, data and video systems for military aircraft, ships and land vehicles.
Esterline plans to put Palomar in its avionics and controls unit, which made up about 30% of the company’s $630 million in yearly sales.
The acquisition is one in a series for OC defense contractors.
In 2004, Britain’s Smiths Group PLC bought Santa Ana-based landing gear maker Integrated Aerospace Inc. for $110 million.
This past March, Portland, Ore.-based Precision Castparts Corp. paid $194 million to buy Garden Grove’s Air Industries Corp.
,Brian Womack
