Rebirth of England.

On December 12, Standard Defense Group announced the completion of its acquisition of Germany's Concept Laser. After this acquisition, Standard Defense Group has completed its layout in the field of additive manufacturing. Before acquiring Germany's Concept Laser, Standard Defense Group had acquired additive manufacturing equipment suppliers Sweden's Arcam AB and Germany's SLM Solutions Group.

Concept Laser was founded in 2000 and commercialized the first metal additive manufacturing machine in 2001.

For 12 years, they have industrialized their patented LaserCUSING process and maintained their leading position in the industry. Currently, Concept Laser has more than 150 employees and is a pioneer in the field of metal additive manufacturing.

Concept Laser designs and manufactures powder bed-based laser additive manufacturing machines for a range of customers, from the aerospace and medical industries to automotive and jewellery. Their machines cover the largest and smallest size ranges currently on the market and are capable of processing a wide range of powder materials, including titanium and nickel-based, cobalt-chrome and precious metal alloys, as well as hot work and high-grade steels and aluminium.

Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing technology that integrates computer-aided design, material processing and forming technology, and uses software and numerical control systems to stack special metal materials, non-metallic materials and medical biomaterials layer by layer through extrusion, sintering, melting, photocuring, spraying, etc. based on digital model files to produce physical objects.

Different from the traditional processing mode of removing raw materials, cutting and assembling, it is a "bottom-up" manufacturing method through material accumulation, from scratch. This makes it possible to manufacture complex structural parts that were previously constrained by traditional manufacturing methods and could not be realized.

Since the second half of this year, Sentinel, a subsidiary of Standard Defense Group, has established a research and development center in London to develop a large fuel-powered drone named Tiercel.

For the development of this project, Standard Defense Group even poached some researchers from British Aerospace Systems (BAE) and Dassault Aviation of France, some of whom have experience in the development of large UAVs.

In the manufacture of this large UAV, some parts need to be manufactured using 3D printing technology. Moreover, Barron also knows the future prospects of this technology, so he simply acquired some related technologically advanced companies through Standard Defense Group, thus giving it an advantageous position in this field.

The research, development and manufacturing of large UAVs like the Tiercel project is naturally not as easy as the Jungle Wolf series of small UAVs previously launched by Sentinel. Its difficulty is no less than the research, development and manufacturing of general military aircraft. Therefore, Standard Defense Group not only established Standard Aviation Manufacturing Company based on Sentinel, but also carried out a series of acquisitions to obtain the required technology.

"In terms of aviation manufacturing companies, we have drawn up a list, which also includes large aviation manufacturing companies, such as giants such as Dassault Aviation and Embraer..."

Joseph Buckley, CEO of Standard Defense Group, told Barron’s.

Joseph Buckley was previously the vice president of BAE Systems. The reason why he was willing to come to Standard Defence, which is much smaller than BAE, to serve as CEO was not only because of Baron's personal invitation, but also because he was impressed by the company's ambition.

"If the French government agrees, I would be very willing to buy Dassault Aviation..."

"It's difficult, and Embraer has a better chance than that, although it's also a huge challenge."

Joseph naturally understood what Barron meant. After all, the "face" of the French Air Force - the Mirage 2000 and Rafale fighter jets, were both developed and produced by Dassault Aviation. Unless the French government was out of its mind, it would not agree to sell the company to a British company.

After all, in the NATO group, France still attaches great importance to the independence of its own military equipment...

"The aviation manufacturing company's business cannot be completed in the short term. Our next target is the British company e2v, which has leading technology in sensors..."

e2v is a leader in imaging sensors for space and astronomy. Its image sensors are often used in the most demanding Earth observation missions, including Thales Alenia Space's third-generation meteorological satellite (MTG), the French Space Center (CNES)'s Pleiades satellite and the European Space Agency (ESA)'s SEOSAT/INGENIO satellite, all of which use e2v's products.

The company is best known for its CCD and CMOS sensors for space imaging, which in recent years have captured the dwarf planet Pluto and Comet 67P.

e2v is also closely involved in the UK’s £3.3 million National Quantum Technologies Programme (NQTP) in the field of quantum technology research and development.

Among the quantum projects involving e2v are a prototype of a gravity imaging camera at the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), one of the key technologies driving the development of quantum technology, and an innovative laser-cooled frozen atom trap project known as “freeze rays”.

Currently, the market value of e2v is around 2 million pounds. Joseph Buckley believes that even if a corresponding premium is given, it will be enough to complete the acquisition within 2.5 million pounds. Relatively speaking, although e2v's technology is sufficient for cash, considering that it is a British company, Standard Defense Group will face less resistance in the acquisition.

e2v's technology in imaging sensors will also help them in research and development in aviation fields such as drones.

In addition to sensor technology, e2v also has sufficient accumulation in aerospace chips.

"Just go ahead and do it. If you have any questions, please contact Laura."

……

Before New Year's Day, Barron and his party set off for Lanai Island in Hawaii - they had been there earlier last year, and it seemed that the children were very much looking forward to this trip to Lanai.

As for William and Kate, they will arrive later. After all, it is a long flight, and for safety reasons, they plan to wait until Prince Cambridge is full-term.

And around New Year's Day, the royal family also has many activities that require their participation.

In addition, although George and Richard are traveling with Barron this time, Bonnie will also go to Lanai with William and Cather and his wife later.

After all, she is now the CEO of Summit Media and needs to complete her recent work and arrange some tasks before she can go to Hawaii with peace of mind.

At that time, she will bring her youngest daughter, Kalida, with her.

On the Devonshire, the women gathered together, teasing a pair of cute babies - Sasha Cavendish and Alice Cavendish, the children of Julia Moore and Barron.

It can be said that a pair of tiny babies like this one, still in swaddling clothes, are the easiest to melt a woman’s heart, especially when they are so cute.

And because of Yulia's gentle personality and the matters she is in charge of, she has a very harmonious relationship with the women around Barron, so the atmosphere seems to be very good at the moment.