everything RF recently interviewed David Young who is the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at CAES. David works with the company’s operating divisions on the overall technical roadmap and related business strategies for the company. He focuses on pioneering advanced research and early prototyping, strengthening technical interchanges on strategic programs with our customers, and leading our new business efforts.
Q. Can you give us a brief history of CAES? When was the company founded and what was the objective? How did the company evolve over the years till it became CAES?
CAES (formerly Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions) began as a division of Cobham, a heritage defense company founded in 1934. Through Cobham’s acquisition of specific businesses, including Kevlin, Continental Microwave, MA/COM, Trivec Avant and REMIC, the company established itself as a leader in RF subsystems for radar, communication and electronic warfare systems. In 2020, Cobham was purchased by the U.S.-based private equity firm Advent International and CAES was established as a stand-alone entity with a new executive leadership team and Board of Directors. CAES has refined its capability portfolio to align to the dynamic defense electronics market through the acquisitions of Colorado Engineering Inc. and Ultra Specialist RF (Herley) in 2021 and 2023, respectively to provide the Aerospace and Defense marketplace with a full range of RF capabilities.
Q. What market segments within Aerospace and defense do you cater to? Which segment is the largest for you?
CAES is a leader in designing, engineering, manufacturing and testing advanced electronic components for radar, electronic warfare, missile, communications, and test and telemetry applications across space, air, maritime, and terrestrial domains. Electronic Warfare is our largest market segment with solutions in the Air, Naval, and Ground domains with significant growth over the next five years. Our Space business is our most rapidly growing market segment which will see rapid growth as our customers are looking for innovative RF solutions to this growing market.
Q. Can you tell us about your product portfolio? What product segment within this portfolio is the largest for you? Which one has been growing the fastest?
CAES prides itself on being able to provide turnkey RF solutions in the Air, Sea, Space, and Ground markets. Our major product families include RF subsystems, antennas, EW assemblies, radar assemblies, Flight Termination System, channelizers, converters, power amplifiers, positioners, RF seekers and sensors, data links, and digital design and processing. We have also rapidly expanded our capabilities in the digital domain through investments, acquisitions, and partnerships.
CAES has experienced rapid growth across all major product segments, with above market growth rates in product areas aligned with DoD modernization priorities including advanced radar systems, next-generation electronic attack and protection capabilities, advanced missile and strike systems, and new national security space programs.
Q. Designing and testing components for mission-critical applications can be challenging. How do you design and test your products to ensure performance in challenging environments?
Our testing capability is one area that differentiates us in the marketplace. CAES has over 600 test stands at five main CAES facilities in the United States as well as indoor and outdoor RF ranges, vibration tables, chambers, mechanical shock testers, environmental stress screening stations and more. We have also added AI/ML capabilities like our Automated Robotic Tuning (ART) system, which automates difficult tuning, saving time and money. With both indoor anechoic chambers and outdoor pattern test ranges, CAES quickly and accurately characterizes all aspects of antenna performance across the RF spectrum.
Q. CAES is well known for SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) Optimizations. Can you give us a couple of examples of products/solutions that were optimized for Size, Weight, and Power?
Our products achieve best-in-class performance that is size, weight and power optimized and fit into small form factor systems such as missiles and artillery rounds. CAES provides high-performance, compacted rugged RF systems for radar, electronic warfare and missile applications. Our offerings include Small Custom Form Factors, Alumina Thin Film and Chip-and-Wire Bare Die. A recent example of our SWaP capabilities is the conversion of COTs radar-on-a-chip technologies into an RF sensor for military applications.
Q. What is MOSA/SOSA? Can you tell us about your SOSA-aligned solutions?
MOSA is short for modular open system approach, which is an acquisition strategy encouraging open, approachable systems. SOSA is sensor open systems architect which is a technical standard.
One example of our SOSA-aligned solution is the new CAES 3U Wideband RF Up/Down Converter which boasts three possible configurations: 2 Up Channels; 2 Down Channels; or 1 Up Channel and 1 Down Channel. The 3U has 2 GHz instantaneous bandwidth with configurable final IF that allows large single view of possible threats. These systems are designed to be interchangeable into multiple different weapon systems all employing a SOSA approach.
Q. CAES develops a wide range of antenna products. Do you offer these as standard products or do you customize them based on specific customer requirements?
CAES focuses on mission-specific, design-to-requirement antennas ranging in complexity and types from AESAs to Sinuous to Slats optimized to specific transmit and receive specifications. CAES antenna applications are employed for radar, electronic warfare, and communication requirements. In recent years, CAES has invested to advance its state-of-the-art antenna capabilities to meet the increasingly complex transmission requirements, including high-speed and extreme temperature operating parameters.
Q. Can you tell us more about your Tactical RF Solutions? What are these? Why are they important?
Tactical RF products support military imperatives for positive identification, reduced fratricide and autonomous operations. Our range of tactical systems solutions span from Identification of Friend or Foe (IFF) systems like Hawk IFF, to weapons guidance datalinks and radar altimeters. CAES provides advanced radar altimeter solutions capable of high-accuracy altitude measurements in adverse conditions. Our radar altimeters are used in UAVs, space launch applications, autonomous targets and towed targets.
Q. CAES offers a range of Manufacturing Solutions for Mission Critical Solutions. Can you tell us more about what you offer under this segment?
At CAES, we proudly have over 380,000 square feet of manufacturing space at our five world-class manufacturing factories with over 1,000 employees specializing in skilled labor. Our capabilities include solder, assembly, thin film substrates and metal fab, automated processes such as pick-and-place machines, wire bonding and optical inspection, environmental screening, plating and etch, paint and laser seals, and design-for-manufacturing. We have also instituted machine learning capabilities into our RF tuning process using a specifically designed machinery that optimizes the manufacturing process.
In the past few years, several of our sites have undergone a LEAN transformation process with multiple improvements across all spectrums of the business, especially in our manufacturing areas; which resulted in restructuring and rebalancing of our manufacturing lines to be more efficient and effective thanks to the deployment of LEAN principals such as one-piece flow, takt time, pull systems and a zero-defect mentality. Our main goal is to deliver perfect quality in all products and services with the leanest processes possible to meet and exceed our customers’ expectations.
Q. Earlier this year, CAES acquired Herley. What drove this acquisition? How has this panned out? What have been some synergies this acquisition brought about?
CAES and Specialist RF (Herley) have highly complementary customer, program and technology positions across common radar, electronic warfare, and missile system applications. Both organizations have expertise in specialized card and board design for these mission applications. The combination of CAES and Specialist RF leverages the production scale, operational excellence, and broad program portfolio with the advanced design and development capabilities of Specialist RF to address the full scope of RF requirements to our industry and government customers. The acquisition has proved highly successful with the combined organization establishing new strategic franchises in maritime EW, securing long-term positions on strategic systems, and accelerating entry into tactical RF and assured precision, navigation, and technology growth segments.
Q. Who are your customers? Do you primarily work with US Government or do you work with A&D Divisions of other countries as well? Outside the US which is the largest market for you?
The majority of CAES’s customers are major U.S. aerospace and defense Prime contractors. In select areas where CAES maintains any differentiated technical offerings, such as airborne electronic attack and protection, CAES is a direct supplier to the DoD. CAES’s role as the sole source Prime contractor for the ALQ-99 Low Band Transmitter is one example.
Outside of the Prime contractor customer base, CAES also collaborates with the DoD innovation ecosystem, including AFRL, NRL, and the test range community to shape and stay aligned with key end-customer technical requirements.
We support the international marketplace through our Prime customers and their successful push into those markets.
Q. What does 2024 look like for CAES? Are there any new solutions or products on the horizon?
I am very excited for 2024 and beyond at CAES. 2024, in particular, has a tremendous amount of new opportunities coming to fruition for CAES, from specialized RF solutions for use in space to new Airborne and Maritime Electronics Warfare and Radar applications. Most of these are coming from designs being collaboratively evolved by our engineering teams and customers to create world class technical solutions which will keep CAES growing for the foreseeable future.
About David Young
David holds a doctorate and master of science degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He also received bachelor of science degrees in both aeronautical engineering and physics with a minor in mathematics from Clarkson University. During his career, David has received numerous awards and recognitions, such as a National Science Foundation Fellowship, NASA Group Achievement Award, and two Scientific Notable Achievements from the Air Force Research Laboratory.
At CAES he focuses on pioneering advanced research and early prototyping, strengthening technical interchanges on strategic programs with our customers, and leading our new business efforts. Prior to joining CAES, David served as Vice President of Advanced Program Development at Lockheed Martin Space in Colorado, where he led a diverse team to deliver numerous technology innovations and development programs. Previously, David served as the sector VP of Business Development & Strategy at Northrop Grumman. During 12 years at Northrop Grumman he held a variety of senior business development, strategy, and engineering management roles across many DOD and NASA programs.
