130 at Rockwell Will Lose Their Jobs This Week

About 130 Rockwell International Corp. employees will be laid off this week after the Air Force canceled two contracts worth $463.8 million for the Midgetman missile program, the company said Monday.

The Air Force officially canceled the contracts last Friday after President Bush proposed scrapping the Midgetman program during his State of the Union address last week.

Christine Rodgriguez, a Rockwell spokeswoman in Anaheim, said the layoffs would represent about half of the 250 to 260 employees working on the Midgetman program for the company’s Autonetics Strategic Systems Division.

In all, about 200 jobs eventually will be lost as a result of the program’s cancellation. About 80 employees would be asked to work during a “phase-down” of the contracts. That number would eventually be reduced to 50 after about three months, Rodriguez said.

The Air Force canceled a full-scale missile development contract worth $418 million. Seal Beach-based Rockwell had already received $18 million from the Air Force since the award of the contract in September, 1991.

Also canceled was a contract worth $45.8 million for an enhanced guidance system for the Midgetman, said Air Force spokesman Capt. Jeff Mielke. He said no schedule for the program’s closing has been established.

The Air Force originally planned to begin deploying the single-warhead Midgetman missiles in 1997.