Motorola Solutions has completed its $4.4 billion acquisition of mission-critical network solutions provider Silvus Technologies Holdings.

The deal, announced back in May, will see Silvus’ battlefield connectivity technologies applied to Motorola’s existing partnerships with government and public safety customers.

Greg Brown, Motorola Solutions’ chairman and CEO, said: “Silvus’ advanced solutions for drone and unmanned systems are trusted in the world's most demanding defense environments, and offer vital applications for border security and public safety.”

Founded in 2004, the Los Angeles-based firm offers mobile ad hoc network (MANET) solutions that use mobile networked MIMO (MN-MIMO) waveforms to power networks that keep warfighters connected.

Its MN-MIMO-based offerings mesh to form a network that doesn’t require fixed infrastructure. Instead, each radio link adapts, sharing frequencies with traffic routed via optimal paths.

Simply put, Motorola Solutions has acquired a company whose mobile network technology keeps users connected, even when applied to bandwidth-intensive applications like video, sensors, and drones.

Human operators can leverage this technology via tactical radios, as well as securely control drones and robots, such as explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units with extremely low latency.

Beyond the battlefield, Silvus supplies its offerings to autonomous systems manufacturers, the intelligence community, and law enforcement agencies, as well as enterprises.

“At our core, both our companies are driven by innovation that makes the world safer,” said Babak Daneshrad, Silvus’ CEO. “Bringing our advanced engineering teams together amplifies our ability to build more powerful solutions to serve more customers globally.”

Under the terms of the acquisition, Motorola Solutions paid $4.4 billion upfront for Silvus, with milestone payments based on the business’s performance of up to $600 million over consecutive 12-month periods ending in 2027 and 2028.

“[Silvus'] capabilities are an excellent complement to our land mobile radio and video technologies, and we look forward to bringing them to more customers around the world,” Brown added.

The government and public safety-focused acquisition comes after Motorola was replaced as the supplier for the U.K.’s communications network for frontline emergency services.

IBM took on Motorola’s role as Emergency Services Network (ESN) supplier after its contract was terminated in 2023 following repeated deployment delays for the 4G-based ESN with its Airwave service.

Motorola went on to sue the U.K. government over an alleged $18.4 million in unpaid Airwave bills.