Lightning Diversion Systems, LLC

Lightning Diversion Systems, LLC, a Huntington Beach, California-based subsidiary of Ducommun Incorporated, manufactures specialized electrical and lightning protection components for military aircraft and defense systems, competing as a prime contractor in full-and-open procurements with the Defense Logistics Agency without small business set-asides. The company is structured as a for-profit limited liability company and manufacturer of goods; its parent, Ducommun Labarge Technologies, Inc., is itself a Ducommun subsidiary.

Lightning Diversion Systems holds a nearly pure prime footprint: 593 of 601 recent awards (99%) are primes, with only eight subcontract positions to Boeing and L3Harris. The company's customer concentration is highly skewed toward the Defense Logistics Agency, which accounts for 95% of awards by count and 98% of combined potential value. The DLA Land and Maritime division dominates at 461 awards valued at $7.8 million combined potential value; DLA Aviation contributes 85 awards valued at $1.5 million. These two DLA divisions together represent 546 of 601 awards. Minor federal customers include the Department of the Air Force, the Department of the Navy Naval Air Systems Command, and Naval Supply Systems Command, each accounting for fewer than a dozen awards.

Lightning Diversion Systems manufactures lightning arresters, aircraft diverter strips, electrical grounding strips, and related electrical protection components. Representative prime work includes a single-award indefinite delivery contract with DLA Aviation (awarded May 9, 2023, ceiling $250,000, ultimate completion May 8, 2026) for aircraft diverter strips and electrical lightning protection components, which has generated thirteen delivery orders valued cumulatively at approximately $173,140 as of mid-2025. An earlier single-award IDC with DLA Land and Maritime (awarded March 25, 2022, ceiling $250,000, ultimate completion March 25, 2023) supported electrical strip products through multiple delivery orders. Recent task orders exemplify the vendor's activity: a $59,391.15 delivery order (January 28, 2026) for aircraft diverter strips under the DLA Aviation IDC; a $100,000.08 purchase order (June 9, 2025) for lightning arresters under DLA Land and Maritime; and a $94,748.50 purchase order (May 14, 2025) for lighting strips, also to DLA Land and Maritime.

The vendor holds multiple single-award indefinite delivery contracts under which task orders flow. The top five named vehicles by task-order count are Indefinite Delivery Contracts SPE4A723D5523 (14 task orders, $224 thousand), SPE7M515D5060 (8 task orders, $42 thousand), SPE7M522D60PH (7 task orders, $64 thousand), SPM7M109D5W58 (7 task orders, $38 thousand), and SPM7M112D5L61 (6 task orders, $41 thousand). All work is performed at the contractor's Huntington Beach facility. Product codes concentrate in electrical and electronic components (Miscellaneous Electrical And Electronic Components: 342 awards; Fuses, Arrestors, Absorbers, And Protectors: 149 awards). NAICS concentration tracks Current-Carrying Wiring Device Manufacturing (108 awards), Other Aircraft Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (95 awards), and related electrical equipment categories.

Activity has been steady: 40 awards in 2022, 23 in 2023, 32 in 2024, 27 in 2025, and 9 through early April 2026. Combined potential value across all 601 awards in the source is $9.5 million, with obligated dollars at $9.6 million. In its subcontractor role, Lightning Diversion Systems supplies electromechanical components (diverters, electrical strips) to Boeing on C-17 Globemaster III sustainment work and P-8A aircraft spares, and to L3Harris on Armed Overwatch and related instrumentation manufacturing efforts, with eight sub-awards dating from October 2024 through February 2026.

Lightning Diversion Systems competes exclusively in full-and-open federal procurements with no set-aside designations across its prime footprint. The vendor's narrow specialization in electrical protection components for defense logistics supply chains, combined with source-approval and manufacturing-expertise barriers to entry, has positioned it as a recurring supplier to DLA across multiple contract vehicles since federal contracting registration in August 2001.