Numerica sells aerospace division to focus on defense work

FORT COLLINS — Fort Collins-based Numerica Corp., a company that uses math to develop air and missile defense systems, has sold its aerospace division.

In a press statement, the company said that the sale of the aerospace division will permit it to focus on innovations in defense systems, including greater investment in its short-range air defense product line.

Buyer of the aerospace division was El Segundo, California-based Slingshot Aerospace Inc. Financial details were not disclosed.

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The sale, according to information supplied by Slingshot, “includes the world’s first and only commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) to geosynchronous orbit (GEO) daytime and nighttime optical sensor network for satellite tracking.”

The company said that it includes a global network of sensors and software, including 150 sensors and 30 telescopes in 20 locations around the globe. Offices are in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, and Slingshot will continue to operate from them.

“The global sensor network — with locations in the U.S., France, Spain, Morocco, Greece, Australia, Namibia and Chile — precisely observes tens of thousands of objects from satellites to debris and provides around-the-clock optical tracking, regardless of the presence of daylight. These sensors can track satellites and debris as small as 10 centimeters in size and autonomously deliver vital information to operators in real-time,” Slingshot said on its website.

“Some of the brightest engineering minds in the space industry built our advanced technologies over several decades,” Jeff Poore, president of Numerica, said in a written statement. “Slingshot’s acquisition of Numerica’s Space Domain Awareness division will create a suite of highly differentiated products that will help our space customers operate more safely and efficiently than ever before.”

Numerica is using the sale to focus on air and missile defense. Some of the biggest developments recently, the company said, are:

• Launch of Spyglass radar, a multi-mission KU-band radar — 360 degree radar that can detect incoming drones, rockets and mortars.

• MFATS, a sensor fusion software engine used to generate fire control quality tracks from a network of sensors.  

• MIMIR, a software product for integrating networks of sensors and weapons.  

Numerica has served for 18 years as a member of the Lockheed Martin-led Missile Defense National Team, providing algorithms to assist the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. For the past 13 years, it has participated in the Northrop Grumman-led Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System program.  

The company is located at 4450 Denrose Court in Fort Collins, which it is renovating to support continued development of Spyglass. It is the only location in Colorado manufacturing radar, the company said in a statement.