Rockwell’s Georgia Division Combined With Anaheim’s

Rockwell International Corp. has combined operations in Anaheim and Georgia to form a new Autonetics & Missile Systems Division that will be run from Orange County under the company’s recently created Aerospace and Defense unit.

The new division represents an “important strategic statement” about Rockwell’s goal of continuing to serve its traditional defense customers while expanding globally into a variety of commercial markets, said R.D. (Bob) Paster, who will be division president.

About 4,000 people will work in the new division, which folds together the former Autonetics Electronic Systems Division, based in Anaheim with 3,000 employees, and the former Tactical Systems Division, based in Duluth, Ga., with 1,000 workers.

Paster had been president of Autonetics Electronics Systems. R.D. (Rick) Stephens, former vice president and general manager of Tactical Systems, will be the new division’s executive vice president. Although Stephens eventually will relocate to Orange County, the Georgia operation will remain in place.