Army Reportedly Ends Rockwell Contract

SEAL BEACH —  The Army is ending a $134.5-million contract with Rockwell International for kinetic energy anti-satellite systems research and design because of budget constraints, Bloomberg Business News reported Monday.

Executives at the company’s Seal Beach headquarters, however, have “not received any word from the customer” regarding the program, Rockwell spokesman Alan Buis said. “We are continuing to execute the program under terms of the contract.”

Slightly more than 100 Rockwell employees are working on the contract at facilities in Seal Beach, Downey, Anaheim and Canoga Park.

The July, 1990, contract covers the demonstration, validation and design of an anti-satellite system, Buis said. Rockwell has “one year of work remaining on the contract, he said, but “we are nearing the end of this phase of the program.”

Buis was unable to describe the contract’s remaining value. Bloomberg reported that Rockwell’s Space Systems division has already been paid $114 million of the $134.5-million contract.

Bloomberg quoted an Army spokesman in Washington as saying that “the program wasn’t funded in the 1994 budget. . . . The system isn’t affordable in light of budget priorities.”