Navy to Use 1 Supplier for Tomahawks : Defense: General Dynamics and Hughes say the announcement on missile procurement was expected.

The Navy’s cruise missile office said Monday that it plans to go to a single supplier for the Tomahawk cruise missile in fiscal 1994, a decision that could affect more than 1,000 Southern California jobs.

The single-source plan for the Tomahawk, a sea-launched weapon that earned fame in the Persian Gulf War last year, is an example of how shrinking defense budgets are causing a consolidation and restructuring among arms makers.

The military’s declining appetite for weapons means there is often insufficient business in one weapons program for two suppliers to profitably divide, said Paul Taibl, research director at Defense Budget Project, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.

The Tomahawks are now built at plants operated by General Dynamics Convair in San Diego and McDonnell Douglas in Titusville, Fla. The two companies have roughly divided the Tomahawk procurements since the early 1980s. The missiles cost $1.1 million each.

*

General Dynamics Convair employs about 2,000 workers on the Tomahawk program, while McDonnell Douglas employs 1,300 in St. Louis and Titusville. If McDonnell Douglas were to win the competition to become the sold supplier after 1994, the 2,000 Convair workers could be directly affected.

Last May, General Dynamics Convair announced it was selling the Tomahawk and five other missile programs to Hughes Aircraft for $450 million. Hughes later said that, once the deal was completed, it would consolidate the Tomahawk operation with its missile programs either at General Dynamics’ Pomona plant or at Hughes’ underutilized Tucson plant.

Officials at General Dynamics and Hughes said Monday that they expected the Navy’s announcement, and that it would not affect the acquisition. The Tomahawk represents about a quarter of General Dynamics $1.2-billion missile operation.

The Navy has reduced its Tomahawk procurements from the 510 per year in 1989 to 200 missiles in 1993. The fiscal 1994 procurement is expected to decline further, said Susan Boyd, a spokeswoman with the Navy’s Cruise missile office in Washington.