General Dynamics Will Cut 30,000 Jobs by 1995 : Defense firms: Shareholders, meanwhile, OK plan to tie executives’ bonuses to stock level, which could double compensation.

General Dynamics, the nation’s second largest defense contractor, said Wednesday it plans to eliminate at least a third of its 90,000-person work force at plants across the nation over the next four years because of the continuing decline in Pentagon spending.

The St. Louis-based firm would not specify where the layoffs and job eliminations would occur. It will also cut equipment and facilities by 60% over the next four years and halve research and development spending.

Company officials in San Diego declined to comment on what the cutbacks would mean for its 17,000 employees. In the San Diego area, the firm has cut 300 to 500 jobs over the past year.

Also on Wednesday, company executives won shareholder approval of a plan that could double and possibly quadruple their salaries, based on the future performance of the company’s stock price.

“Because the Cold War is a diminishing factor on the international scene, our industry’s single most important market stimulus has rapidly receded,” William A. Anders, chairman and chief executive officer, told the annual meeting in Groton, Conn.

“The management does not enjoy making manpower cuts,” Anders added.

The company builds submarines, tanks, fighter planes and missiles for the U.S. military. It has major plants in Texas, Connecticut, Ohio, Michigan and California.

In San Diego, General Dynamics employs 3,700 employees at its Space Systems division, 8,900 at its Convair division, 2,600 at its Electronics division, and 1,150 at its Data Systems division.

Ed Maudlin, president of the local International Assn. of Machinists lodge, was uncertain whether the 30% cutback would be levied on top of a 15% job cut the company initiated in San Diego during the fourth quarter of 1990.

Officials at the firm’s Air Defense Systems division in Rancho Cucamonga and Pomona were uncertain Wednesday whether the 30% cutback cited by Anders would come on top of cutbacks already under way.

The division already plans to cut 1,000 of its current 6,600 jobs by the end of this year, in addition to a cutback of 2,000 jobs since last August. The operation has fallen from a peak of 12,000 jobs in the mid-1980s.

Production of virtually all of the firm’s missiles is dropping quickly. Production of the Navy’s Standard missile will drop 40% compared to last year. Stinger missile production will be off 90%, and Phalanx gun production will be cut in half.

Analysts questioned the new management compensation plan, saying its introduction during a recession was unusual.

“It’s a very aggressive move on (management’s) part and a very controversial one, particularly the compensation plan,” said Michael Rosen, an aerospace analyst at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. Inc. “Some would question why they are receiving large bonuses for doing what they should be doing anyway.”

If General Dynamics stock rises by $10 a share from $25.625--its price when the plan was adopted Feb. 15--and then stays at or above that level for 10 trading days, the company’s top 25 executives get a bonus equal to their base salaries.

For each subsequent $10 rise in the stock, Anders and top management will get bonuses equal to twice their base salaries.

On Wednesday, General Dynamics stock closed up $1.375 to $39 on the New York Stock Exchange, the seventh day it has closed $10 above the required level since the plan’s introduction.

Anders--who took over as CEO in January--makes an annual salary of $800,000. He could get another $800,000 as early as Monday, if the stock price stays at the present level or rises. If it rises another $10 and remains there for 10 trading days, Anders would get an additional $1.6 million, in effect quadrupling his pay.

General Dynamics profits dropped 54% in the first quarter compared to a year ago.