UK defence contractor BAE Systems has said it has signed a multi-billion dollar deal to buy a company which supplies parts to the James Webb telescope and the US’s fighter jets.

BAE said it would buy Ball Aerospace from the Ball Corporation for 5.6 billion dollars (£4.4 billion), gaining it more than 5,200 new employees and a Colorado headquarters. More than 60% of those employees have security clearances in the US.

“The proposed acquisition of Ball Aerospace is a unique opportunity to add a high-quality, fast-growing, technology-focused business with significant capabilities to our core business that is performing strongly and well positioned for sustained growth,” said BAE chief executive Charles Woodburn.

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Ball Aerospace has become a leader in space telescopes (Luke Watkinson/BAE/PA)

“It’s rare that a business of this quality, scale and complementary capabilities, with strong growth prospects and a close fit to our strategy, becomes available.”

It marks the end of the nearly 70-year journey for Ball Corporation and Ball Aerospace.

The latter was set up after the Second World War to find new revenues for the Ball business, which was worried that it could lose relevance as refrigeration ate into the need for the food canning market which it traditionally occupied.

Ball Aerospace went on to be involved in the space race, built components for the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes. It also supplies parts for the US’s cutting-edge F-35 fighter jet, which is also in service in the UK.

Ball Corporation chief executive Daniel Fisher said: “Since 1956, generations of dedicated Ball Aerospace colleagues have transformed a business of humble beginnings into a thriving enterprise offering innovative capabilities in a world that needs rapid, scalable technology solutions.

“In recent years, the business has positioned itself to have an even greater contribution to customers’ missions and delivered fourfold growth and record levels of combined contracted and won-not-booked backlog.

“The complementary cultural fit of Ball Aerospace and BAE Systems and their combined position as a pure play aerospace and technologies company will leverage Ball’s recent investments in talent and facilities located across the country and centred in Boulder, Broomfield and Westminster, Colorado, to provide a multi-dimensional platform for vital national defence, intelligence, and science hardware, software and space-based assets.”