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

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

At the same time, top executives won shareholder approval of a plan that could double and possibly quadruple their salaries, based on the 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, told the annual meeting in Groton, Conn.

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

The St. Louis-based firm would not specify where the job eliminations will occur.

The company said it also will cut equipment and facilities 60% in the next four years and halve research and development spending.

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

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

The division plans to eliminate 1,000 of its 6,600 jobs by year-end. It has cut 2,000 jobs since August. The operation had a peak of 12,000 employees in the mid-1980s.

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

Meanwhile, General Dynamics officials in San Diego declined to comment on what the cutbacks will mean for the 17,000 employees there. The firm has cut 300 to 500 jobs there in the past year.

General Dynamics employs 3,700 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 International Assn. of Machinists local, was uncertain whether the 30% cutback will be on top of a 15% cut that the company initiated in San Diego during the fourth quarter of 1990.

Analysts questioned the new management compensation plan and said 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--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 at $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, he would get an additional $1.6 million, in effect quadrupling his pay.

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