Rockwell Gets Pact for Work on Midgetman : Defense: Anaheim division awarded $30.6-million contract to continue development of missile’s guidance system.

Rockwell International Corp. said Wednesday that it has won a $30.6-million contract to continue development of a guidance and control system for the Midgetman nuclear missile.

Rockwell’s Autonetics Strategic Systems Division in Anaheim won the one-year Air Force contract to continue work on the single-warhead Midgetman, formally known as the Small Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

Rockwell, which began work on the Midgetman in 1984, has 170 people employed on the program. No additional hiring is expected during the next year, the company said.

As part of the contract, Rockwell will develop an electronic chip system designed to better withstand radiation exposure in a nuclear war.

Full-scale development work for the guidance and control program could boost the value of the contract to $470 million, based on current Air Force estimates, Rockwell officials said.

Dunbar Lockwood, an analyst with the Arms Control Assn., a Washington think tank, said cuts in defense spending have resulted in the Midgetman program being stretched out. The Air Force has spent $3.3 billion on the program since 1984. Before the recent award, Rockwell had received $390 million in contracts for the guidance and control system.

The Air Force has proposed building 500 Midgetman missiles at a cost of $41.8 billion, with deployment to begin in 1997.

The Bush Administration has requested $202 million for Midgetman development during the fiscal year that began Monday.

With deep cuts expected in the Pentagon’s budget and the prospect of a nuclear arms control agreement, the Democratic-controlled Congress is expected to support the Midgetman over the rail-based MX, Lockwood said.

Since U.S. arms control negotiators have proposed a ban on multiple warhead missiles such as the MX, the Midgetman has a better chance for deployment. Proponents of the Midgetman contend that the system would be less vulnerable than the MX missile in the event of a massive nuclear strike.