Ducommun Incorporated Receives Contract from Boeing for Apache Helicopter Main and Tail Rotor Blades

    Jan. 6, 2009
    Boeing produces the next-generation AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter for the U.S. Army and international defense forces.

    LOS ANGELES -- Ducommun Incorporated announces that its Ducommun AeroStructures Inc. (DAS) subsidiary has been awarded follow-on contracts from the Boeing Company for AH-64 Apache helicopter main and tail rotor blades for use as both original equipment and replacement blades.

    These contracts are additive to current production and extend deliveries into 2010. Boeing produces the next-generation AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter in Mesa, AZ, for the U.S. Army and a growing number of international defense forces. The manufacture of the blades will be at DAS’s Monrovia, CA, facility which has built every Apache rotor blade since the inception of the program.

    Joseph C. Berenato, chairman and chief executive officer of Ducommun, says, "We are pleased by the award of these follow-on contracts which affirm our long-term commitment to the Apache program and highlight our growing capability to produce complex flight control assemblies, including the Apache main and tail rotor blades. Our demonstrated capabilities in rotor blade production have enabled us to win additional commercial helicopter blade work in both composites and metal bonding from other customers, broadening our presence in this important market. We are proud to work with Boeing supporting the Apache helicopter program."