General Dynamics Wins Missile Contract

The Navy on Friday awarded a contract worth more than $128 million to General Dynamics’ Convair Division to produce 62 Tomahawk sea-launched cruise missiles, two congressmen announced.

Work on the $128,307,426 project will be completed at Convair plants in San Diego and Imperial counties, said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham, also a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the work is to be completed in June, 1994.

Employment at General Dynamics’ local Convair division has dropped significantly this year and last year as the company adjusted to lower defense spending and other economic changes.

The Convair division announced in January that it would lay off 300 workers from its commercial jet component production line. In December, the local division announced it would lay off 200 employees on the production line, which builds fuselages for the MD-11 jetliner.

The Tomahawk is a 21-foot missile capable of being launched from surface ships or submarines. Hunter said more than 100 Tomahawks were fired on the first day of Operation Desert Storm, and that they provided the United States with a vital technology edge throughout the Gulf War.

Convair, which also builds the Advanced Cruise Missile, employs about 8,500 workers in San Diego. Fairfax, Va.-based General Dynamics employs about 15,600 workers overall in San Diego, making it the area’s largest private employer.