Global company acquires Overland Park-based air traffic management business from Leonardo's Selex ES

Indra Air Traffic Inc. normally aims to avoid collisions, but a Monday event brought a bipartisan group of local, state and national politicians into close proximity at the new company's Overland Park headquarters.

Sen. Jerry Moran, Rep. Sharice Davids, Kansas Deputy Secretary of Commerce Paul Hughes, Overland Park City Council President Jim Kite and executives from Indra attended the event recognizing the launch of Indra Air Traffic.

Indra Sistemas S.A., a Madrid-based global technology and consulting company focused on the aerospace, defense and mobility sectors, closed on its acquisition of the air traffic management (ATM) business of Selex ES Inc. on Thursday from Rome-based Leonardo Co. S.p.A. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"This is the largest investment Indra has made in the American air traffic management market," Moran said in his remarks at the event. "This investment will enable Indra to make inroads and consolidate its global leadership — based right here in Kansas. The combination of Selex assets and Indra's global leadership will garner a new era of opportunity for the aviation manufacturing ecosystem in Kansas."

Selex's air traffic management segment developed a variety of land-based navigational aid systems for major customers, including the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

According to a Tuesday release, "Indra will create a center of excellence for air navigation aid systems (NAVAIDS) from which it will provide service to customers in the U.S. and the rest of the world, constituting the starting point for the development of an industrial plan that seeks to incorporate other products into Indra's portfolio, market them and add new capabilities."

Indra Air Traffic has about 100 employees, almost all of which are based in the Kansas City area, said Sergio Sánchez Benitez, director of institutional communication and media relations for Indra.

The new company is led by CEO Bill Colligan, who previously was general manager of Selex's air traffic management group.

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Selex ES Inc., a Leonardo Company

"The United States is one of the largest national airspaces in the world and its ATM business has excellent potential for growth," Ramón Tarrech, Indra's director of ATM business strategy, said at the event. "Reinforcing our presence and activity in the country will open up huge opportunities for us, help us complete our global leadership of the sector and allow us to introduce internationally proven state-of-the-art technology into a country with a clearly innovative DNA."

According to Kansas City Business Journal data, Selex ES had 165 employees as of June, including 85 local people.

Selex EX, which became a subsidiary of the Italian company Leonardo in 2001, continues to operate as a land mobile radio manufacturer and provider of automatic license plate recognition solutions. The company and those business lines are now based in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Sánchez Benitez said Indra has a few other business units in the U.S., including Minsait ACS Inc.

Originally called Advanced Control Systems Inc., the Norcross, Georgia-based real-time energy management solutions provider was purchased in 2018 and renamed in March 2022. Minsait ACS is focused on the utility industry.

With the addition of Indra Air Traffic's employees, Indra has a total of 250 employees in the U.S.

According to the release, the Spanish public company brought in revenue of 3.851 billion euros ($4.23 billion at current exchange rates) in 2022. It has almost 57,000 employees in 46 countries and business operations in more than 140 countries.