McDonnell Loses SDI Contract in Budget Cut

McDonnell Douglas Astronautics in Huntington Beach has lost a $408.6-million contract to build a missile-destroying particle beam device for the Strategic Defense Initiative program.

The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it was canceling the contract because of cuts in the SDI budget.

Until last week, the McDonnell Douglas particle beam project had been the single largest SDI contract awarded. Then, last Friday, Martin Marietta was awarded a $508-million contract for an SDI project.

Despite the loss of the contract, McDonnell Douglas continues to have significant involvement in other aspects of the proposed missile defense system, popularly known as “Star Wars.” Those include a $331.5-million contract to design and test a ground-based missile to intercept and destroy incoming enemy missiles. About 200 McDonnell Douglas employees work on that program in Huntington Beach.

The Pentagon’s decision to eliminate the particle beam program “was strictly a function of the budget,” said Maj. Michael Fick, a spokesman at the Air Force Space Technology Center in Albuquerque, N.M. “But, just like the B-1 bomber program got killed by (President) Carter, it could get resurrected.”

President Reagan requested $5.7 billion for the SDI program this year, but Congress reduced the figure to $3.9 billion.

Speed of Light

Pentagon officials said Thursday that more program cuts probably will be made within several weeks.

Last May, the Air Force awarded McDonnell Douglas the contract to build, launch and test a weapons system based on a beam of hydrogen atoms. The space-launched beam would travel at roughly the speed of light and be directed at enemy missiles.

Under the program, in the early 1990s McDonnell Douglas was scheduled to launch into orbit satellites that would have carried an 80-foot-long apparatus to test the particle beam device in space.

McDonnell Douglas spokesman Tom Williams called the loss of the contract unfortunate. “There were some folks here who were very strong believers in the system,” he said.

McDonnell Douglas had 50 people working on the particle beam project in Huntington Beach and 40 others in St. Louis. The company had planned to boost total employment to about 200.

McDonnell Douglas has received $10.4 million for work already performed under the contract.

The SDI program was initiated by President Reagan in 1983. It involves a plan for developing high-energy lasers, particle-beam generators and advanced sensors to help destroy incoming nuclear missiles.

The elimination of the particle beam project--one of the most technically challenging of the SDI programs--was not unexpected. Because of budget shortfalls, the Pentagon has said it will emphasize funding for programs that rely on known technologies rather than exotic, unproven ones.

“The concept for particle beams is an element for the next century,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Alan Freitag said.

McDonnell Douglas and Air Force officials said they plan to continue fundamental research on particle beam devices.

McDonnell Douglas now has SDI contracts totaling about $400 million, company spokesman Williams said. That places the St. Louis-based aerospace and defense company among the 10 largest SDI contractors.