Litton Industries Inc. will close its missile guidance and control systems plant here by the middle on 1994 due to reduced defense spending.
Manufacturing at the Grants Pass plant will be consolidated with operations in Salt Lake City and business and research facilities will be melded with those in Woodland Hills, Calif., company spokesman Robert Knapp said.Perhaps 30 percent of the plant's 200 employees will be offered jobs in Salt Lake City, Knapp said.
"The market environment is slipping as a result of the defense budget cuts, and we have to make continuing adjustments to that," he said.
Litton opened the plant in 1975 to make control systems for cruise missiles. At its peak, it employed 600 people.
In 1991, Litton bought the former Dalmo Victor Singer Co. here, which will remain open producing radar warning systems for combat aircraft. The Applied Technology Division was awarded part of a $40 million defense contract last year.
The closing is a blow to Grants Pass. Knapp said the plant payroll is $8 million. It paid $89,217 in property taxes and made $450,000 in annual purchases locally.