McDonnell Douglas, at $7.7 Billion, Top Defense Contractor

The McDonnell Douglas Corp. reclaimed the title of the nation’s largest defense contractor in fiscal 1987, the Pentagon said today.

Releasing its annual rating of the top 100 military contractors, the Pentagon said the St. Louis-based McDonnell Douglas, ranked third in 1986, easily topped the previous year’s top contractor--General Dynamics Corp.--by winning work worth roughly $7.7 billion.

General Dynamics, which received contracts worth $7 billion last year, dropped from first to second but remained far ahead of the No. 3 contractor, the General Electric Co., which won contracts totaling $5.8 billion.

Rockwell International Corp., which is winding down its work on the new B-1B bomber, fell from fourth place on the 1986 list to 12th place in fiscal 1987 with contracts worth $2.2 billion.