Southland Jobs on the Line in Bush Defense Plan : * Military: Several Southern California companies are working on systems the President singled out. But the B-2 Stealth bomber and “Star Wars” get renewed support.
President Bush’s sweeping proposal Friday to slash the nation’s nuclear arsenal could shake Southern California’s already beleaguered defense industry, but other major Southland projects--notably the B-2 Stealth bomber and “Star Wars” systems--won a renewed endorsement.
In a major policy change, the President proposed cutting short-range land- and sea-based nuclear weapons, land-based ballistic nuclear missiles and the rail-based MX missile.
Executives at major Southland defense companies were still struggling to interpret the speech late Friday; none offered an assessment of its likely effects.
But several Southland defense companies are now working on systems Bush singled out for cuts:
* General Dynamics’ San Diego-based Convair division, which employs about 2,000 employees in the manufacture of Tomahawk cruise missiles, some of which carry nuclear warheads. Bush targeted nuclear Tomahawks for reductions.
General Dynamics spokeswoman Julie Andrews declined to detail what percentage of Tomahawks are nuclear-capable or to comment on Bush’s proposal.
Since 1984, General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas have shared the annual Navy allotment of Tomahawks. The missiles are deployed on U.S. Navy surface ships and submarines.
* Rockwell International Corp.’s Autonetics Strategic Systems division in Anaheim. The division employs 1,700 people and provides systems integration, logistic support and electronic components for three nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles systems: the Minuteman III, the Midgetman and the “Peacekeeper,” or MX, fixed missile program, Rockwell spokeswoman Christine Rodriguez said.
The company’s Command and Control Systems Center in San Bernardino, which employs about 600 people, provides the launch control system for the rail-based mobile MX missile system.
Bush’s proposal specifically called for an end to development of the rail-based MX, a program rejected by the Senate the day before.
Bush also called for eventual elimination of all U.S. ground-based ballistic missiles with multiple warheads, which would include the Minuteman III. Bush’s proposal would apparently spare the single-warhead Midgetman, which Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said Friday could benefit if other missile programs are eliminated.
Rodriguez declined to comment on how Bush’s proposals may affect Rockwell’s work. A Rockwell official said earlier this year that the elimination of the MX program could result in the loss of 200 to 500 jobs in Anaheim and San Bernardino.
Rockwell’s Pentagon efforts had already been slashed in half with the end of the B-1 bomber program.
* TRW’s Space and Defense Sector, which does some work in San Bernardino on the Peacekeeper MX missile. “It’s too early to make any predictions; we’re going to have to wait to see how this works,” TRW spokesman John Booth said after the President’s speech.
Likely unaffected would be TRW’s Redondo Beach operation, which is the prime contractor on the Star Wars “brilliant pebbles” anti-ballistic missile system and also does some work on the B-2 bomber.
The President’s proposals would apparently spare Lockheed Corp., whose Sunnyvale aerospace unit is the prime contractor for the Navy’s submarine-launched Trident II ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads.
About 4,200 employees work in Sunnyvale on fleet ballistic missile programs, including the Trident II. This year, the company won a $757-million contract to build 52 of the missiles, with three-quarters of that money to be spent in Sunnyvale, a spokesman said.
Word of the proposed cuts could not come at a worse time for the region’s defense industry, hard-hit by budget cuts and corporate defections to neighboring states. Employment has been falling steadily in the defense industry here, and 38,000 more jobs may disappear by the end of 1993, according to a forecast by UCLA.
But the President’s proposals mentioned no cuts in either the controversial B-2 Stealth bomber program or the Strategic Defense Initiative, better known as Star Wars--and that comes as good news for the region’s industry.
The details of the Administration plan may offer particular relief for Northrop Corp., which is developing the B-2 Stealth bomber as well as a Stealth air-launched cruise missile intended to carry a conventional warhead. Congress continues to mull the future of the B-2, which remains cloudy.
As for Star Wars, virtually all major defense contractors in Southern California have a piece of the multifaceted program, analysts said. Robert Paulson, head of McKinsey & Co.’s aerospace and defense practice in Los Angeles, estimated that the various SDI programs, as well as the B-2 program, account for as many as 40,000 jobs in the state.
“And there’s a multiplier effect,” he added, referring to the number of jobs created in the general economy by defense industry activity. “About 1.5 people are supporting every aerospace prime contractor worker: subcontractors, bankers, the local druggist.”
The companies with perhaps the biggest stake in Star Wars include Rockwell, Lockheed, TRW and Hughes Aircraft.
Rockwell is involved in support for several SDI programs, primarily space-based interceptor systems, a spokesman said.
At Lockheed, technicians successfully completed tests of the ERIS missile, a Patriot-type interceptor designed to blow up incoming missiles in space. Study is also under way on the so-called THAAD missile, another interceptor that would target incoming air-borne cruise missiles or aircraft.
Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo is building the prototype LEAP, or lightweight exo-atmospheric projectile. In addition, the company acts as an electronics subcontractor on other SDI systems.
Science Applications International Corp., a San Diego-based high-technology company, is a “major subcontractor” to General Electric for an SDI program. The company is paired with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.
Times reporters Kevin Cullinane in Los Angeles, Dean Takahashi in Orange County and Greg Johnson in San Diego contributed to this report.
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How Southland Aerospace Firms Would Fare
President Bush’s outline of a global revamping of American defenses appears to spell cutbacks for a handful of Southern California’s major aerospace programs, but sustained activity for most others. Here is a first impression of the likely impact of the President’s plan:
Company Project Status General Dynamics Convair Division Tomahawk nuclear cruise missile Cutbacks Hughes Aircraft B-2 Stealth bomber radar Survives Air defense systems Survives Military satellites Survives Lockheed Trident II ballistic missile Survives Theater High-Altitude Defense system Survives Northrop B-2 Stealth bomber Survives Stealth cruise missile Survives Rockwell Rail-based MX missile systems Canceled International SDI-related systems Survives Minuteman III missile systems Cutbacks Science Applications International SDI-related systems Survives TRW SDI-related systems Survives
