SOURCE: upi.com Feb 15, 2008

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army Space Missile and Defense Command announced it has contracted Ducommun Inc. to support the Operationally Responsive Space program.

Ducommun is an engineering and manufacturing provider for the aerospace and defense industries. Company officials say the SMDC, based in Huntsville, Ala., has awarded Miltec Corp., a Ducommun subsidiary, a $69 million contract to develop designs and technologies in support of the ORS program.

Miltec specializes in design, development, integration and test capabilities for missiles, space, sensors and simulations. Under the terms of the deal, "Miltec will examine conceptual designs for space vehicles able to further the ORS program mission employing both legacy government assets as well as new conceptual approaches," the release said.

"We are pleased to be supporting SMDC on this important space program," Joseph Berenato, Ducommun chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "Our goal is to continue to broaden our technical and engineering capabilities in order to become more important to our key customers and to be able to compete for larger programs where we have demonstrated capabilities."