Air Force Pursuing Cuts in Rockwell’s Work on MX

The Air Force said Monday that it is negotiating to reduce its purchases of guidance systems for the MX missile system from Rockwell International, after the service canceled several ambitious nuclear weapons programs that would also use the device.

If MX production is terminated earlier than expected, several hundred jobs at Rockwell’s Anaheim facility could be affected. The company said it could not provide a precise employment figure on the program and declined to discuss the negotiations.

An Air Force spokeswoman said the service will need fewer guidance systems because it canceled plans to deploy MX missiles on railroad cars and canceled a program to develop a new small nuclear missile, known as the Midgetman.

But Rockwell has also had significant difficulty in producing the guidance systems. Last December, the Air Force issued a letter to the firm asking it to “show cause” why it should not cancel Rockwell’s contract.

The firm had failed to deliver any of the eight systems scheduled. The Air Force said Monday that the firm has now delivered eight of the systems and had 17 others that are going through acceptance testing.

Rockwell won a $137.6-million contract to produce the guidance system after Northrop experienced serious problems early in its program and incurred the wrath of the Air Force and Congress during the late 1980s. The firm delivered the last guidance system a month ahead of schedule last year, however.

Now, Rockwell seems to be having its own problems with the difficult system. Called an inertial measurement unit, the system is the size of a basketball and has more than 19,000 parts inside. The system is supposed to allow the MX to drop its 10 nuclear warheads with unprecedented precision.

Under its original contract issued in 1990, Rockwell was originally supposed to produce 50 of the guidance balls by February, 1993. The Air Force could not say how many guidance systems it now wants to forgo.

Rockwell produces the MX’s guidance and control section, a computer that works with the inertial measurement unit to steer the missile and release the warheads.