Ducommun Incorporated (NYSE:DCO) today announced that its Ducommun AeroStructures (DAS) subsidiary has won a contract to furnish TIGHITCO, Inc. with 360 Upturned Exhaust System (UES) sub-assemblies and components for Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.'s H-60M BLACK HAWK helicopter program. Sikorsky is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX).

The UES Program is a result of four years of cooperative development between the U.S. Army, Sikorsky, TIGHITCO and Ducommun in an effort to provide a system that lowers the exhausts infrared (IR) signature, resulting in a more difficult target to acquire from ground fired rockets. Additionally, the UES provides increased power and improves the overall weight characteristics of the aircraft. The first ship set deliveries are being made this quarter, planned for field retrofit on existing HH/UH-60M Black Hawks; full production for new aircraft is scheduled to begin later in the year. Follow-on UH-60A/L retrofit orders are expected as well, with all work being performed at the DAS Coxsackie, New York facility.

Anthony J. Reardon, president and chief executive officer of Ducommun, stated, "We are pleased to work on such an important program and add TIGHITCO as one of our strategic partners. The Black Hawk helicopter program is essential for our fighters' success; being part of such a great team – and contributing to the safety of our soldiers – is an outstanding combination. We believe that this contract is just the start of future activities, as there are over 1,500 Black Hawk helicopter models in the field, and we are optimistic that the benefits obtained by the UES will be extended to those aircraft as well. This contract reaffirms a growing awareness in the aerospace marketplace of Ducommun's ability to provide increasingly complex solutions for our key customers, making us more valuable to them."

Ducommun AeroStructures manufactures large, complex structural components and assemblies in aluminum, specialty alloys such as titanium, metal bond and composites for a wide variety of military and commercial aerospace applications.