Rockwell, McDonnell and General Dynamics to Vie for Aerospace Plane Design

The government Wednesday selected Rockwell International, General Dynamics and McDonnell Douglas for an intense competition to develop the National Aerospace Plane, an experimental vehicle that will take off like an airplane and fly into space like a rocket.

The decision drops Lockheed and Boeing out of the running to eventually build the futuristic craft, an effort that is expected to grow into a $3.3-billion program through the mid-1990s. All five companies had participated in a preliminary phase of the project.

Under the secretive NASP program, the three contractors selected Wednesday will receive $25.5 million each during the next 30 months for preliminary design and the fabrication of some hardware to demonstrate the technology.

The program to build the NASP, also known as the X-30, is jointly run by the Defense Department and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Ultimately, NASP could evolve into a civilian jetliner that would fly from New York to Tokyo in two hours or a military craft that could haul weapons into space at a fraction of today’s costs.

In 1990, one of the three companies will be selected to complete development of the NASP and build two test planes intended to fly by 1993. The test program will be conducted at Edwards Air Force Base, north of Los Angeles.

“We think the three designs give us a wide technical diversity,” Air Force Col. Leonard Vernamonti, NASP program director, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “They may look similar to an untrained eye, but from a technical perspective they differ significantly in aerodynamics, structure and materials.”

The airframe designs, however, are closely guarded by the contractors and much of the technical information about the program is classified. The NASP began several years ago in a secret program known as Copper Canyon.

The three contractors all have experience in both aircraft and spacecraft designs, a qualification that will be important in building the aerospace plane, which must act like both an airplane and a rocket. Unlike the space shuttle, the NASP will reach orbit on a single stage, not discarding tanks or engines along the way.

That is a difficult technical challenge and will depend to a great extent on the ability of the companies to use lightweight materials and develop revolutionary engines known as supersonic combustion ramjets, called SCRAM jets. The task is so difficult that some critics question whether NASP will ever be completed for the cost and within the schedule the government has set.

The NASP will join other defense programs that have become controversial within the aerospace industry because of their requirements for large amounts of industry investment--another way of saying that the contracts will result in losses for the companies, at least in the current phase of the program.

The $25.5 million that each of the three companies will receive for the NASP contracts are likely to fall far short of the cost of the development work, which some government officials have estimated could exceed $100 million per company.

“It is fair to say that all of the companies said they would rather not (put in their own investments),” Vernamonti said. “You expect, when you have a competitive environment, that firms will do what they have to to foster their position. Congressional action directed that we incorporate contractor investment into our plans.”

In a separate phase of the program, two contractors were selected in August to build the NASP engine. They are Pratt & Whitney and its partner Marquardt, a San Fernando Valley rocket firm, and Rockwell International’s Rocketdyne division in Canoga Park.

The three winning airframe companies will all conduct a major part of their work on the NASP program in Southern California. Rockwell has assigned the project to its North American Aircraft unit, based in El Segundo.

“Two years ago, we were not even a part of this program, so we’re delighted,” said Sam Iacobellis, president of North American. “It is a big win for Rockwell.”

Robert Gulcher, Rockwell’s NASP program manager, said the company expects to have 80 people working on the program within a few weeks and 150 in a few months. Eventually, production of the NASP would employ several thousand workers, he said.

Rockwell, which has built such high-speed craft as the space shuttle, recently brought out of retirement Charlie Fetz, chief of the X-15 rocket plane, which set world speed records in the 1960s. Iacobellis said he considers such experience a “national resource.”

General Dynamics has based its NASP work at its Fort Worth division in Texas but will conduct a major part of its development at its Space Systems and Convair divisions in San Diego, a company spokesman said. The company has 135 people working on the program, he said, based in Fort Worth and San Diego.

McDonnell Douglas has formed a special corporate group in St. Louis for NASP but plans to draw on its Douglas Aircraft unit in Long Beach, according to Jack Cooke, director of McDonnell’s external relations.

“We have a very high level of confidence that the NASP program objectives can be achieved,” said Hershel Sams, vice president and general manager of the NASP program at McDonnell Douglas.

Sams said McDonnell will team with Martin Marietta, which will provide technical specialists in materials and will conduct low-temperature testing. In addition, Aerojet TechSystems of Sacramento is providing maneuvering systems.

Other subcontractors are expected to join the team, Sams said.

Iacobellis said he did not expect Rockwell to team with any other major airframe companies in its NASP effort.