Lockheed Martin announced Thursday that its Aeronautics business area—manufacturer of aircraft like the C-130, F-16, and F-35—will eliminate about 1,500 positions across its enterprise to help improve the affordability of its products and increase operational efficiency. That represents a reduction of slightly more than five percent of its 28,000–strong workforce, which is located at principal sites in California, Georgia, and Texas, and at six smaller locations in as many states. “Bold and responsible action is necessary to meet customer expectations and reduce our costs,” said Ralph Heath, executive vice president of the business unit. The company will offer eligible salaried employees an opportunity for a voluntary layoff to minimize the number of involuntary layoffs, which will begin in mid September. It expects the greatest impact to be on employees in higher level labor grades. Overall, Lockheed employs about 126,000 people worldwide.
The Air Force wants to pump more than $12 billion over the next five years into its new affordable long-range missiles program and recently asked industry to push the flights of some of those munitions beyond 1,200 miles.