Northrop Grumman Corp. has bought the unmanned plane unit of San Clemente-based Swift Engineering Inc.
The KillerBee planes, renamed the Bat, have wing sizes ranging from six and a half feet to more than 33 feet and are used for military reconnaissance missions.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Swift will continue to work on the Bat from its local headquarters, where it also makes race cars used for competition in Japan.
Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman and Swift went into talks for a deal two years ago that fell apart, according to Aviation Week magazine.
Swift already is working with Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon Co. on a potential contract with the Navy and Marines.
One of its biggest competitors for the planes is Boeing Co.
Hiro Matsushita, a former racecar driver and grandson of the founder of Japan’s Panasonic Corp., owns the 25-year-old company.
Swift’s parent company is Matsushita International Corp., which also owns industrial parks.
