ABSTRACT
Rockwell International resulted from the 1967 merger between Rockwell Standard and North American Aviation. North American Aviation, long a prime defense contractor, needed to make a new start; its work on the B-70 bomber had been cancelled, one of its Apollo program space capsules had burned, killing three astronauts, and it had lost a fighter competition to McDonnell Douglas’ F-15. Rockwell was awarded the B-1 contract in 1970 but the program was the focus of growing controversy up to 1977. By 1971, cost estimates were rising rapidly from the original $29.2 m. per-plane estimate of 1969. In 1976 the company won a large Army contract for the Hellfire missile, a battlefield weapon to be used with the Advanced Attack Helicopter. In 1971 the company bought control of Collins Radio and subsequently incorporated Collins into its defense business.
