SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY : Rockwell Vying for Strategic Defense Initiative Contract

Rockwell International Corp.’s units in Seal Beach and Anaheim are awaiting the announcement of contractors for a major Star Wars defense system known as a space-based interceptor.

The Pentagon’s Strategic Defense Initiative Organization is expected to select two contractors from a field of six at the end of this month. The winners would develop a network of weapons, based in space, designed to intercept and destroy incoming nuclear missiles.

Rockwell is vying to build up to 1,000 interceptors along with Ball Aerospace Corp., Boeing Co., Martin Marietta Corp., Raytheon Co. and TRW Inc. McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. in Huntington Beach is a major subcontractor on the Raytheon-led contracting team.

The program--also known as Brilliant Pebbles--is not without controversy. Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., the powerful chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in April that the value of Brilliant Pebbles is questionable given the reduced threat of a Soviet missile attack.

Aspin also said Brilliant Pebbles has been scaled down to the point that it would be incapable of stopping a Soviet attack. The system, however, is more than sufficient to stop an accidental or unauthorized Soviet attack, or deal with any future nuclear threat from a less-developed nation, he said.

Michael Doble, an SDIO spokesman, said that while the Cold War has ended, the Soviet Union’s capability to launch a major missile attack on the United States remains intact. He also said threats from developing countries are expected to grow if the proliferation of nuclear weapons continues.

The Bush Administration has proposed spending $659 million on Brilliant Pebbles for the fiscal 1992 year beginning Oct. 1 and $582 million for fiscal 1993. Aspin’s committee will begin formulating its own spending proposals this week.