BlueHalo nears $1B in annual revenue with acquisition

Arlington-based tech contractor BlueHalo announced Tuesday it plans to acquire Maryland-based Eqlipse Technologies, a purchase that the company expects to bring its annual revenue to nearly $1 billion. 

Eqlipse and BlueHalo are both portfolio companies of Arlington Capital Partners, and together, the combined company will have 2,400 employees, including 200 doctorate holders, across 11 states, as well as owning 90 patents. BlueHalo has 700 employees in Virginia, and Eqlipse has 800 employees total.

Reaching the billion dollar mark is an “investment metric that allows us to really level up and play on a new plane relative to how we can continue to invest in our technologies, in our road map, in our employees and continue to differentiate us across a competitive landscape,” BlueHalo CEO Jonathan Moneymaker told Virginia Business on Tuesday.

He declined to disclose the purchase price. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter, and Moneymaker will be the combined company’s CEO.

Eqlipse, which started less than a year ago, provides capabilities in electronic warfare, virtual operations, identity management, cyber and online operations, and research and technology capabilities.

Moneymaker said BlueHalo has been working with Eqlipse for the past 18 months and the acquisition allows the company to accelerate “the roadmap of where we were already looking to invest into the business.” 

BlueHalo’s core mission areas are space, counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS) and autonomous systems, electric warfare (EW) and cyber and artificial intelligence, all stated priority areas for the Department of Defense. BlueHalo formed in 2019 and has made several acquisitions in the past few years. In November 2023, BlueHalo announced its acquisition of Ipsolon Research, and in April 2023, it acquired Leesburg-based Verus Technology Group. 

Moneymaker says BlueHalo doesn’t have a mergers and acquisitions strategy, it has a corporate strategy, and that the company is now in a desirable position to be able to invest in growth locally in the Washington, D.C., region.

“Unifying BlueHalo and Eqlipse’s capabilities will accelerate our development of new technologies for our defense and intelligence customers to a pace that others cannot match,” David Wodlinger, a managing partner at Arlington Capital Partners, said in a statement. “The strategic combination of BlueHalo and Eqlipse creates a scale of innovation that establishes the combined company as one of the preeminent defense technology platforms in the industry.”