Kwesst Micro Systems is joining forces with one of Canada’s largest defence companies on a multimillion-dollar project for the Canadian Armed Forces.
The Kanata-based firm announced this week it was awarded a subcontract by defence giant Thales Canada earlier this month to deliver specialized software services to the Canadian Army.
Kwesst said the deal is part of a series of contracts the Department of National Defence has signed aimed at upgrading the army’s advanced land command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems.
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“We look forward to further strengthening our close working relationship with Thales Canada as we collaborate to deliver these critical capabilities to Canada’s men and women in uniform,” Kwesst CEO Sean Homuth said in a statement.
Thales’s six-year contract with DND has a total value of $48 million. Kwesst said its share of the revenues will be “largely driven by the timing and extent of task orders” issued by DND.
Kwesst also announced this week it is offering 2.9 million shares in the United States at a price of 58 cents per share, a move that would bring in gross proceeds of about US$1.68 million.
The company, which trades on the Nasdaq in the U.S. and the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, said it intends to use the cash “primarily for working capital requirements, general corporate purposes and the advancement of its business objectives.”
Now at more than 30 employees, Kwesst specializes in three main product lines – systems that feed real-time information to soldiers in the field; measures that counteract deadly lasers and other space-age weaponry; and equipment such as high-tech anti-riot munitions designed to subdue aggressive protesters and other belligerents.
The company landed a five-year, multimillion-dollar contract last spring to perform software engineering services for DND. In December, it announced retired Gen. Rick Hillier, who served as chief of the Canadian defence staff from 2005-08, has joined its board of directors and would chair the firm’s strategic planning committee.
