Lockheed Martin announces 500 job cuts nationally in information systems unit

Lockheed Martin Corp. (NYSE: LMT) has announced plans to cut about 500 positions nationally in its information systems & global solutions (IS&GS) business unit, which largely operates in plants outside New York state.

The Bethesda, Maryland–based defense contractor will make the cuts by mid-November.

The move is in response to “shifting government priorities, changing industry dynamics and efforts to improve IS&GS’ competitiveness,” Lockheed Martin said in a news release issued Wednesday. The position cuts include voluntary and involuntary layoffs.

CNY impact

Lockheed Martin has fewer than 10 employees working in the IS&GS business segment between its two Central New York plants in Salina and Owego, respectively, according to Dan Nelson, company spokesman.

“We don’t know,” Nelson told BJNN, when asked about how many layoffs of those employees might occur.

Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Salina and Owego mostly focus on the company’s mission systems and training (or MST) business segment. The two plants employ 4,200 people total.

Lockheed Martin has IS&GS employees in locations that include the Washington, D.C. region, along with Colorado, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to Nelson.

Lockheed Martin in July announced that it would conduct a “strategic review” of its government information technology and technical services businesses, “primarily in the IS&GS business segment.”

The layoffs, while unrelated to the review, are part of a “larger effort to optimize IS&GS’ resources and align them to customers’ existing needs and the business climate,” the defense contractor said.

“We made these difficult decisions as part of our efforts to remain competitive in an extremely challenging environment where industry dynamics have shifted, customer budgets are constrained and competition has continued to escalate,” Sondra Barbour, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin IS&GS, said in the news release. “Continuing to reduce our overhead costs, is expected to enable us to be a much leaner and more agile organization which is what is needed to compete effectively.”

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com