Eads' $105-million purchase of Racal Instruments represents a first "baby step" in the company's acquisition strategy in the U.S., while also establishing the final element in its wide-ranging plan to capture U.S. defense I market share. The European defense giant is now more than two years into its quest to gam a portion of the lucrative Pentagon business. After evaluating several acquisition candidates, it settled on test and instrumentation maker Racal, because it matches other businesses EADS owns and the low-key deal would not run into opposition from the Pentagon, says EADS North America Chairman/CEO Ralph Crosby. Crosby is keen on further boosting the $615 million in sales his group is recording and makes no secret that additional acquisitions are being looked at to achieve that goal.
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