By Muhammed El-Hasan Staff Writer

Article Launched: 07/29/2008 10:04:06 PM PDT

Three years after local politicians and activists succeeded in persuading the Defense Department to keep the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, some of the local leaders who led that campaign will be able to see one of the tangible benefits from their effort.

On Thursday, COM DEV International, a Canadian maker of satellite components, will celebrate the opening of its U.S. branch in El Segundo, where the firm will eventually provide about 200 mostly high-paying engineering and technician jobs. Follow the Dow

The company is about a mile away from the LA Air Force Base, home of the Space and Missile Systems Center, or SMC, which serves as the Pentagon's purchasing arm for space systems.

"We searched many other locations around the United States," Dan White, president of COM DEV USA, said. "All the decision-makers are housed here at SMC, as well as (at) the (nearby) prime contractors of Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon. Much of the technical talent is in Southern California. So it just makes sense to be here."

A broad coalition of local, regional and statewide politicians and business leaders lobbied the federal government to spare the base from closure amid a nationwide consolidation of military facilities as a Pentagon cost-cutting measure.

Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who helped lead that effort, plans to attend Thursday's event.

"If the L.A. Air Force Base were not in El Segundo, COM DEV would not be coming today," said Lieu, chairman of the Assembly's Aerospace Select Committee.

Based in Cambridge, Ontario, COM DEV is the

largest Canadian-based designer and maker of space hardware subsystems.

COM DEV opened a facility in the United States with an American staff to focus on engineering and producing components for the lucrative U.S. market for government and defense satellites, White said.

U.S. regulations that restrict the export of satellite technology complicate the work of foreign businesses.

The company incorporated its U.S. operation in late 2006 and began work on prototype components in late 2007.

In May of this year, the firm purchased the Passive Microwave Devices product line from L-3 Communications Electron Technologies Inc. in Torrance. Used in satellite operations, the microwave devices will be COM DEV's first U.S. product line.

COM DEV also hired about 65 employees who had worked on the line for L-3. White said he expects to complete integrating the new line into the El Segundo facility by October.

COM DEV's 46,000-square-foot El Segundo building, at 2333 Utah Ave., currently has about 100 employees. White expects to hire another 100 within the next four years.