A general “downturn in its satellite assembly and integration business” has led Boeing to announce that it must lay off about 750 employees in southern California, according to a May 21 company release. Boeing recently lost out on the contract to develop and build the next generation Global Positioning Satellite, GPS III. Craig Cooning, VP and GM of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, attributed the cuts to “stretching out of government contract awards, along with a continuing lighter demand in the commercial marketplace for large, high-power satellites.” That situation, he said, “has created a surplus in the workforce” that the company must address “now so that we are competitive.” The company release notes that Boeing wants to “redeploy many of the affected workers in California and at other sites where the company has suitable job openings.”
The Space Development Agency says it’s on track to issue its next batch of missile warning and tracking satellite contracts this month after those awards were delayed by the Pentagon’s decision to divert funds from the agency to pay troops during this fall’s prolonged government shutdown.
