`SKUNK WORKS MISSILE PROJECT TO EMPLOY 200 : ONE-FOURTH TO HALF WILL BE NEW HIRES.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

The Lockheed Martin ``Skunk Works'' will employ 200 people on a new missile program, a company spokesman said Monday.

About a quarter to half the 200 workers will be new hires, with the remainder of the jobs to go to employees of Lockheed Martin's Aircraft Services Co. who were expected to lose their jobs because of declining defense business.

``We're going to try to match as many of those people to jobs as we can,'' said Skunk Works spokesman Ron Lindeke.

The Aircraft Services division is being moved from Ontario to Palmdale over the next two years.

The Skunk Works will serve as a partner to Lockheed Martin Electronics and Missiles Co., which was awarded a $110.9 million Air Force contract to develop a stealthy new missile called the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile Program.

The missile would be carried by airplanes and used for attacking targets on the ground from a distance.

Work will be split roughly 50-50 between the Skunk Works in Palmdale and the Electronics and missile company in Orlando, Fla.

The Skunk Works will perform radar cross-section testing, as well as other testing, at its Rye Canyon facility in Santa Clarita.

The Skunk Works will be responsible for the airframe, including the wing, tail, actuators and engine integration. At the peak of the two-year contract, the Skunk Works will employ 200 people on the missile.

The contract awarded to Lockheed Martin is for a two-year program intended to further define the design and investigate any technological hurdles that must be overcome to produce the missile.

Lockheed Martin is competing with McDonnell Douglas to build at least 2,400 of the new missiles at a total cost of $3 billion for the Defense Department.