Lockheed to close Minnesota plant by 2013

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. said on Thursday that it will close its Eagan, Minn. plant by 2013, eliminating or moving about 1,000 jobs.

The company makes components for the Navy's P-3 Orion anti-submarine plane at the plant.

Lockheed said 650 of the Minnesota jobs would move to Owego, N.Y., San Diego, and Manassas, Va. Layoffs and transfers will begin in the first three months of next year.

The Defense Department has been on a cost-cutting drive, and that has been hurting defense contractors like Lockheed. Many have been announcing layoffs or other belt-tightening measures.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/7301980.html

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[azurnoir]

1. It's a pity they don't build F-35's at the Eagan plant

I hear the US is planning a "give away" on those

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. It's hard to believe those things are still flying.

The Lockheed Electra airframe goes back to the mid-50s, and the P-3 has been flying since at least the early 60s. P-3s were big when I was at Pax River, and that was ... um, a while ago.

[MgtPA]

3. Back when I worked P-3 (1970s), it was touted as DoD's most cost-effective program -

consistently on time and under budget.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. I believe it.

Those P-3s and C-130s have held up forever. They really got their money's worth with that design.

IIRC, the Electra replaced Constellations as the backbone of the Air Shuttle. (Incredibly, there is no Wikipedia entry for the Air Shuttle.) The Connies were in use until February or March of 1968. Electras were real hot rods. Those Allison 501s were full of shaft horsepower.

I flew on a P-3 from Pax River to Moffett Field and back. Those were the days.

[MgtPA]

5. Connies were a bit before my time, but I remember hearing about them. I worked System Test Program

(STP), so I didn't get to fly much. I did experience a high-performance takeoff from NADC once, though - what a rush! I got out to Moffett a few times for meetings, but flew commercial.

Back in the day, the Simul SYGNOG portion of STP was the largest real-time program in the world.

Those were the days.