Assessment · Deals and capital
Most defense buys by the private equity firms we track were add-ons
Portfolio companies announced 55% of the defense acquisitions and stakes in our study. Excluding the two busiest firms, their share was 52%.
In this Assessment
In 2021, Fairbanks Morse Defense bought Hunt Valve, "a specialty manufacturer of naval valves and electromechanical actuators".1 In 2022 it added Maxim Watermakers, a provider of "desalination and water treatment technologies for marine defense applications".2 It agreed in 2024 to buy Rolls-Royce's "Naval Propulsors and Handling business," and in 2025 it bought Vestdavit, a supplier of davits and advanced handling systems.3–4
The buyer each time was a private equity portfolio company.5 Arcline Investment Management agreed to buy Fairbanks Morse from EnPro Industries for $450 million in December 2019, just before the period we count.6 From 2020, Fairbanks Morse Defense announced 13 of the 23 add-ons credited to Arcline.5
Among the 75 private equity firms we track, add-ons like these outnumbered the firms' own defense buys. From January 1, 2020, to October 5, 2026, those firms and the companies they back announced 523 distinct defense acquisitions and stakes. Portfolio-company add-ons account for 288 of those announcements, or 55%. Direct investments by the firms account for the other 235, including stakes.5
The pattern holds without the two busiest buyers. AE Industrial Partners and Arlington Capital Partners, with the companies they back, account for 99 of the deals. Among the other 424, add-ons were 52%.5
Our research roster covers firms appearing in our deal records, along with defense and government-services specialists. Of the 75, 60 announced at least one transaction, directly or through a company they back, in the period.5 The results describe this set alone, and each deal counts once regardless of price.
Add-ons led in every full year
Add-ons outnumbered the firms' own buys in every full year
Defense buys and stakes announced by the 75 roster firms and their portfolio companies, by year. Number of deals, each counted once, unweighted by value. 2026 runs to October 5.
Partial year: January 1 to October 5 only
Source: TGOs Defense Deal Tracker, from company, investor and government releases and SEC filings. Deals announced January 1, 2020, to October 5, 2026.
TGOs · tgos.io
In each full year from 2020 through 2025, add-ons made up between 52% and 61% of the buys. The 2026 figures run only to October 5, and so far the firms' own buys lead, 45 to 31. Add-ons represent 41% of this year's deals so far, below every full year.5
Portfolio companies made most of the buys at the six busiest firms
At the six busiest firms, portfolio companies made most of the buys
Defense buys and stakes announced January 2020 to October 5, 2026, for firms with 20 or more, of the 75 on our research roster. A deal two firms made together counts for each.
16 own buys
Source: TGOs Defense Deal Tracker, from company, investor and government releases and SEC filings. Deals announced January 1, 2020, to October 5, 2026.
TGOs · tgos.io
Firm tallies credit a joint deal to each participating firm. Across the full roster, those tallies add up to 529 against 523 distinct deals.5
AE Industrial Partners built BigBear.ai from two direct platform buys
At AE Industrial Partners (AEI), BigBear.ai shows direct buys and add-ons inside one company.5 In June 2020, the firm bought a majority interest in NuWave Solutions, which sells data management, analytics and artificial intelligence work to the federal government. NuWave was to be "a new standalone platform for AEI".7
In October, AEI bought PCI, a provider of cybersecurity and computer network operations to the intelligence and defense communities. AEI called the deal its "ninth platform investment" in AE Industrial Partners Fund II, LP.8 Both count as AEI's own buys.5
The add-ons followed. In December 2020, NuWave and its AEI-formed parent bought Open Solutions and ProModel's government services division, both counted as AEI add-ons.5, 9 BigBear.ai's annual report says each deal "supports the Company’s growth in its offering of advanced data analytics".9
In February 2021, NuWave and PCI announced that they had merged to form BigBear.ai.10 AEI already owned both, so the merger adds no purchase to the count.5, 10
A list of private equity's defense buyers that stops at the funds would leave out companies such as Fairbanks Morse Defense and NuWave, which made purchases themselves.5
How we counted
We counted deals in the TGOs Defense Deal Tracker announced from January 1, 2020, to October 5, 2026, in which a private equity firm on our research roster, or a company it owned, was the buyer. The roster was chosen from the firms in our deal records and firms that specialize in defense and government services; it is a selected set and does not cover every private equity investor in defense. A firm's own buy names the firm, or a vehicle it controls, as the buyer, and includes minority stakes. An add-on is a buy by a company the firm owned at the time, named in the announcement or shown by our record of the firm's earlier purchase. Each deal counts once in the totals, and a deal any roster firm made directly counts as a direct buy. Firm tallies credit a joint deal to each participating firm. Counts are of announced deals, including some our records do not show as completed, and are not weighted by value. Deals recorded as terminated, formation announcements, mergers of companies a firm already owned and SPAC listings are left out. So are records that primary sources have not yet shown to be separate purchases, including possible repeats of a counted deal, and talks that had not reached a signed agreement.
Sources (10)
- Fairbanks Morse Defense, Hunt Valve release
- Fairbanks Morse Defense, Maxim Watermakers release
- Fairbanks Morse Defense, Rolls-Royce agreement release
- Fairbanks Morse Defense, Vestdavit release
- TGOs Defense Deal Tracker: deals announced January 1, 2020, to October 5, 2026, involving the private equity firms on our research roster and the companies they own. Counts and shares are our calculations under the rules in How we counted
- Arcline Investment Management, Fairbanks Morse release
- AE Industrial Partners, NuWave Solutions release
- AE Industrial Partners, PCI release
- BigBear.ai Holdings, Inc., annual report on Form 10-K for 2021
- AE Industrial Partners, NuWave and PCI merger release
