Lockheed memo: Skunk to be dumped

1,000 survey respondents: Save Skunk

By MICHAEL BITTON
Valley Press Staff Writer

The development dismays more than 1,000 readers who responded overwhelmingly to an Antelope Valley Press opinion survey, voting by an approximately 9-1 ratio that the company should respect the Skunk Works heritage and keep the name and logo.

"This is the largest response we've ever had," said Valley Press Opinion Editor Keith Stepro, who noted no surveys in his 10 years with the paper drew as much reader interest.

In a phone and e-mail survey taken Friday through Monday, nearly 1,000 Valley Press readers urged Lockheed to save the Skunk. About 100 voted the other way, and the final tally hasn't been counted yet.

The survey is informal, and not scientific, but avowedly democratic, Editor Dennis Anderson noted. Readers had to call in, or click and point.

"It is a matter of topical interest, and we raise questions of topical interest," Anderson said. "How the company manages its trademark materials is its own business, but this company has a rich history in the Valley, and we knew readers would be interested. In this case, it's a thousand and counting."

As of noon Monday, 400 voicemail messages urged the company to save the Skunk, and five said dump it. Also as of that time, 592 visitors to www.avpress.com, the Valley Press Web page, voted to save the Skunk, while 102 voted to dump the Skunk Works name and mascot.

Meanwhile, the company is moving ahead with its own plans.

In a Feb. 4 memo to contracts managers and staff, Shirley Meredith, manager of contracts, wrote: "The company name is changed to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. in lieu of Lockheed Martin Skunk Works."

The change is part of the consolidation of Lockheed Martin's aircraft operations in California, Georgia and Texas, which was announced Jan. 27.

The move, expected to save the company $200 million, folded three separate companies into one, now known as Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co.

Layoffs of about 2,500 are expected at the company's three sites, the company said at the time of the announcement, with about 800 of those layoffs coming from the ranks of Palmdale's operation.

Sources with knowledge about recent company events told the Valley Press the new outfit, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is eager to do away with the Skunk logo and the Skunk Works name. The move was attributed to years of infighting between the Texas and California branches of Lockheed.

"Even if the logo and name were maintained, the question is whether what once was the Skunk Works will be gutted," said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Evidence that Fort Worth directed moves in a new direction is abundant. Jack Gordon, president of the Skunk Works since March 1994, retired abruptly Oct. 1.

Gordon's replacement, Robert T. "Bob" Elrod, came from Fort Worth's F-16 program. The next Skunk Works executive to retire abruptly was Paul Martin, the Skunk Works executive vice president, who, sources said, does not get along with Dain Hancock, president of the new Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Co.

Asked about the Texas vs. California rivalry last week, Lockheed Martin spokesmen played it down.

Gary Grigg, a company spokesman, said the moves are not about regional rivalries but rather that the aircraft wing of the defense giant is trying to set a new direction, and that the company is looking for new business.

More management changes are in the wind, with announcements due in weeks to come.

Meanwhile, elements of Skunk Works history are being done away with. For example, Clarence "Kelly" Johnson's vaunted "rules" for dealing with contractors were taken down from walls of the semi-secret facility. Johnson, legendary designer of such planes as the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, propounded the rules the unit followed in dealing with clients, a kind of Holy Grail for excellence.

A recent Lockheed memo shows the Skunk and the Skunk Works name appear to be headed for the bone yard. According to the memo, the name of the Skunk Works will change, and the logo will no longer appear on official company documents.

"The final name to replace LMSW (to differentiate among Palmdale, Marietta and Fort Worth) has not been determined; however, we will advise you when the name has been finalized," Meredith wrote.

On Monday, the Valley Press tried without success to contact Hancock in Fort Worth.

Company spokesman Grigg said he was out in the joint strike fighter area Monday, and that it was business as usual.

"Everybody's hard at work," Grigg said. "I don't see any preoccupation with this (Skunk) issue."

Meanwhile, opinion on the matter surfaced by phone and letter. One voice mail left on the phone of Opinion Editor Stepro was laced with emotion and resentment.

"Save the Skunk," the caller urged. "It epitomizes what Lockheed management smells like."

In a letter to the editor in Sunday's Valley Press, Tehachapi resident J.W. Boatman wrote: "How stupid of Lockheed Martin to eliminate the Skunk Works name. I can't believe they are really serious. It's a joke, right? What kind of people are running that place? Are they Americans?"

Similar letters are arriving at the Valley Press daily.

Letter writer Robert G. Hoey said: "In this screwy, post-Cold War time period, if there are no new weapons being developed by the 'Skunk Works,' then the logo should be dropped, and our entire country, the U.S.A., is the loser."

Hoey continued: "If, on the other hand, there continue to be secret new developments, being hammered out somewhere by a small crew of dedicated engineers and technicians, then the logo should be retained as recognition for those individuals.

"I sincerely hope, for our country's sake, that there is still a 'Skunk Works' doing what it has always done."

Another letter writer, identified only as a retired military officer, wrote: "Save the Skunk. The Skunk is a big, big morale and public relations image booster."

State Sen. William J. "Pete" Knight, a legendary pilot whose speed record of Mach 6.7 set in the X-15 rocketplane in 1967 still stands, opposed the idea of dropping the Skunk Works name and logo.

"It is abominable, considering what the Skunk Works has meant to this nation and to the Air Force," Knight, R-Palmdale, told the Valley Press last week.

Knight said Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich, the former Skunk Works leaders, would be devastated.

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford said last week he always took pride in being able to say the Skunk Works was in his community, and that he feels a loss with the pending retirement of the name and logo.

David Foy, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, predicted last week a Skunk Works name change won't take hold locally.

"People in the Antelope Valley will still call it the Skunk Works," Foy told the Valley Press. "Nothing that famous changes so easily."

Paul Nisbet, an analyst with JSA Research in Newport, R.I., said Lockheed is trying to find its way as it gets serious about cutting costs.

Lockheed would love to consolidate aircraft operations - including research and development now done in Palmdale - in one central location like Fort Worth, Nisbet said. It makes financial sense to do so, he said.

But politically, it's not feasible, Nisbet said, because Georgia and California continue to have influence over large government contracts.

"It's like the closing of military bases or shipyards," Nisbet said. "We've got too many and that's not going to change."

Nisbet said stand-alone research and development centers, which is what Lockheed's Palmdale operation may become, are almost always "cost centers," meaning they cost a company more than they bring in.

"Lockheed can't afford to spend money anymore," Nisbet said.

If the Palmdale operation can't pay for itself and is left to wither on the vine by headquarters, consolidation in Texas might be inevitable.

Nisbet said if Lockheed is committed to keeping its Palmdale operation open, it's silly to believe it will be called anything but the Skunk Works. The brand is simply too valuable to retire.

"They're just going to call it the same thing, even if legally it's something else," he said.

Uploaded February 15, 2000