The Navy awarded Martin Marietta Corp.'s plant in Middle River a contract valued at $298 million yesterday for the production of rocket launchers used on ships.
The contract for the manufacture of vertical launching systems, or VLS as they are commonly called by workers at the Baltimore County plant, "represents a very big chunk of business," said spokesman Donald Carson. "It's very good news."
VLS is a cluster of canisters that fit below deck on ships. They store and launch a variety of missiles against aircraft, submarines or land-based targets. One system can contain as many as 64 missiles.
They represent nearly half of the work at the Middle River plant. "It's a pillar of our business base," Mr. Carson said. "The contract will give us stability through the turn of the century."
In awarding the contract, the Navy also named Martin Marietta as its sole supplier of the missile launching system in the future.
The basic contract, valued at $124 million, is for the production of launchers and spare parts for four U.S. Navy ships, one Japanese military vessel and two Turkish Navy ships.
Options to be exercised next year and in 1996 will provide additional launching systems and associated equipment for six more U.S. Navy and four Japanese Navy ships. The options have a potential market value of $174 million.
Workers at Middle River have been building VLS unitss for the Navy since 1977. They have accounted for more than $2.6 billion in business over this period.
More than 300 of the plant's 1,400 workers are directly involved in the production of the launchers, according to Mr. Carson.
The contract was announced after the close of business and many of the workers at Martin Marietta will not learn about the award until they arrive at work today, Mr. Carson said.
To offset an anticipated decline in Navy orders, the company has been looking at foreign customers to sustain its business base. In the past it has sold the shipboard rocket launchers to Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Canada.
Like other defense contractors in the state, Martin Marietta's Middle River plant has suffered from Pentagon budget cuts in recent years. In 1988 the plant had about 4,100 employees.
The other major line of business at Middle River is production of thrust reversers for commercial jetliners. Martin has said that it expects a 20 percent drop in these orders next year, and that as a result it would be laying off some more workers, likely less than 100.