Rockwell Gets $8 Billion for 82 B-1 Bombers

The Air Force formally announced Thursday that it was awarding Rockwell International an $8-billion contract to build the final 82 airframes of the B-1B bomber.

Rockwell, the prime contractor for the 100-bomber program, had earlier received $6.3 billion in development and start-up costs covering the first 18 planes. The $8-billion price tag on Thursday’s contract made it one of the largest single contracts ever awarded by the Pentagon.

A company spokesman in El Segundo said the awarding of the latest contract will result in little, if any, additional hiring by the defense firm.

“We’re pretty well staffed up,” he said.

More than 22,000 people are employed nationwide on the giant bomber, including nearly 16,000 at corporate headquarters in El Segundo and at the aircraft assembly plant in Palmdale.

2 Bombers Delivered

Thursday’s contract covers the basic plane but does not include money for its four jet engines or the sophisticated avionics systems that it uses. Those components are acquired under separate contracts from General Electric, Boeing and Eaton Corp.

Rockwell already has delivered two bombers, each of which was completed five months ahead of schedule. The first plane was rolled out last October and entered the flight test program at Edwards Air Force Base.

The second plane was delivered to the Strategic Air Command at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Tex., in June, and the third plane will be delivered there next month. The 100th plane is scheduled for delivery in April, 1988.

$280-Million Each

“We’re ahead of schedule and within budget,” the Rockwell spokesman said.

The B-1B program is projected to cost $28.2 billion, meaning that each plane carries an estimated price tag of $280 million--a cost that makes it the most expensive aircraft in Air Force history.

The B-1B, designed to evade Soviet air defenses and to destroy strongly reinforced targets, is considered the replacement for America’s aging fleet of B-52 bombers. The first B-52 entered the Air Force inventory 30 years ago.

However, critics contend that the B-1B will soon be obsolete and that it would have been better to await the development of the so-called Stealth bomber.