Rockwell’s Autonetics Wins 2 MX Contracts : Defense: The company’s Anaheim ICBM Division is awarded the $105-million job of building and maintaining guidance and control systems for the nuclear missile.

ANAHEIM — Rockwell International Corp. said Tuesday that its Autonetics ICBM Systems Division here has received $105 million in funding for two contracts to build and maintain guidance systems for the Air Force’s MX nuclear missile.

Rockwell’s Autonetics ICBM Systems Division, which employs 800 people on the project, builds a guidance and control system for the MX intercontinental ballistic missile, dubbed the Peacekeeper.

In the larger award, the Rockwell unit received an $81-million contract to produce 12 MX guidance and control systems. The company also won $24 million to perform engineering services for the guidance and control systems.

The 50 deployed missiles require a total of 188 guidance and control systems, said Ed Venanzi, program director for the Peacekeeper guidance project at Rockwell. The company has delivered 100 systems and is working on another 52 systems. The remaining 36 systems have yet to receive congressional approval.

Since 1978, Rockwell’s Anaheim unit has performed $2 billion in work on MX development and production, Venanzi said.

In March, Rockwell received a $134.5-million contract to build a separate guidance device for 50 MX and Midgetman missiles. The Air Force took that program away from Northrop Corp. after the company failed to meet production schedules.

Congress approved funding in past years for 50 MX missiles based in silos, but it is still debating funding for mobile deployment of the multiple-warhead MX and single-warhead Midgetman nuclear missiles in railroad cars.

The Bush Administration is seeking additional missiles, but the controversial program, which has been funded for $6 billion over four years, could be eliminated if the United States and Soviet Union agree to strategic arms limitations, congressional opponents say.

Rockwell uses 35 subcontractors on the program, including ITT Cannon, Micro Semiconductor and Tolo Inc., all in Santa Ana, Silicon General in Garden Grove and American Electronics Inc. in Fullerton.