06/08/98 TRW IS DOING JUST FINE, THANKS

TRW IS DOING JUST FINE, THANKS

In ''Air bags are deflating TRW'' (The Corporation, May 18), you stated that our share of the air-bag market peaked in 1996. Not so. TRW's share grew in 1997. Also, you reported that one of our competitors ''picked off'' some of our market share. Not so. TRW took market share from it. Air bags represent about 17% of TRW's revenues, not 30%. And the slight decline in air-bag margins reduced net earnings by $9 million, not $19 million.
More important is the omission of any reference to the record revenues and earnings and our long-term goal to double the size of the company in seven years. We're on track to do that, and we don't worry excessively about quarter-to-quarter comparisons.
Most recently, we acquired BDM International Inc. for close to $1 billion, as you mentioned. But that's all you said about one of the most significant acquisitions in the company's history. Overall, our company is doing just fine.
Joseph T. Gorman
Chief Executive
TRW Inc.
Cleveland

Editor's note: A TRW official told BUSINESS WEEK that air-bag problems reduced net earnings by $18.6 million in the first quarter. The article should have stated that air bags and related restraints, not air bags alone, represent about 30% of total revenues.