Lockheed Plans to Cut 1,000 Jobs From Unit That Makes F-35s

by Julie Johnsson

March 8, 2016 — 5:49 PM EST Updated on March 8, 2016 — 6:38 PM EST

Lockheed Martin Corp. plans to cull about 1,000 jobs from its aeronautics division, which makes the F-35 fighter and other military aircraft, amid constrained defense spending.

The world’s largest defense company is offering voluntary layoffs to mid-level employees in Texas, Georgia, California, Mississippi, West Virginia and Maryland, Lockheed said in a statement Tuesday.

Lockheed has been looking to bolster profit margins in aeronautics, its largest division and the source of about one-third of company revenue, as it speeds up production of the F-35, the Pentagon’s largest weapons system, Douglas Rothacker, a Bloomberg Intelligence defense analyst, said in an e-mail.

The company is aiming to trim overhead steeply amid continued budgetary pressures from the Pentagon and U.S. Congress. “We are always looking at our business structure and looking at different excursions we should take in order to keep our business competitive within the business environment that we operate in,” Lockheed Chief Executive Officer Marillyn Hewson told investors in October.

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