Posted: Sat, Mar 6, 2010, 9:11 AM ET (1411 GMT)
Orbital Sciences Corporation announced this week that it agreed to acquire the satellite division of General Dynamics. Orbital agreed to acquire the division, based in Arizona, for $55 million in cash. That unit was originally a standalone company, Spectrum Astro, that General Dynamics acquired in 2004. It is best known for building a number of small- and medium-sized satellites for government and commercial customers, including the Fermi gamma-ray astronomy satellite for NASA and the GeoEye-1 commercial remote sensing satellite. Orbital believes that adding the unit to its existing satellite manufacturing operations will allow it to go after additional business in medium-class satellites for government customers. The deal is scheduled to close in about a month.

Related Links:

•  Space News article
•  Washington Post article
•  Arizona Republic article
•  Washington Business Journal article
•  Orbital Sciences press release