This whole job's lost excuse seems to be a non-starter:
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/th...bs-lost-i.html
LM exec: Few, if any, jobs lost if F-22 line closes
By Stephen Trimble
Question: How many jobs will Lockheed Martin cut if the F-22 production closes this year?
Answer: Probably none. Maybe a few.
That's not my opinion. That's what Ralph Heath, president of Lockheed's aeronautics division, said as recently as November 20. Heath spoke to market analysts at the Credit Suisse Group Aerospace & Defense Conference in New York. Asked whether F-22 assets could be redeployed to support the F-35 ramp-up, here's what Heath said:
It's -- the production folks that probably will become displaced when we're at the end of the production line in Marietta, because we've had the good fortune or we were reaping the dividends of the hard work that we've put in place with the C-130, we actually have a requirement for ramping up for C-130 production. So, those folks can be redeployed there.
In a similar vein for C-5, about a year from now we'll be marching in the ramp-up for full production on the re-engining program and we'll have a need for employees there as well.
A third of the F-22 is built in Fort Worth. And again, as we ramp up for F-35, we have the need already for deploying the manufacturing people there as well.
So, if you go back to the portfolio balance, it's not exactly perfect but we're probably as good as we've ever been and where you'd want to be in terms of the balance and different points with the lifecycle of the portfolio of programs that we have.
By Stephen Trimble
Question: How many jobs will Lockheed Martin cut if the F-22 production closes this year?
Answer: Probably none. Maybe a few.
That's not my opinion. That's what Ralph Heath, president of Lockheed's aeronautics division, said as recently as November 20. Heath spoke to market analysts at the Credit Suisse Group Aerospace & Defense Conference in New York. Asked whether F-22 assets could be redeployed to support the F-35 ramp-up, here's what Heath said:
It's -- the production folks that probably will become displaced when we're at the end of the production line in Marietta, because we've had the good fortune or we were reaping the dividends of the hard work that we've put in place with the C-130, we actually have a requirement for ramping up for C-130 production. So, those folks can be redeployed there.
In a similar vein for C-5, about a year from now we'll be marching in the ramp-up for full production on the re-engining program and we'll have a need for employees there as well.
A third of the F-22 is built in Fort Worth. And again, as we ramp up for F-35, we have the need already for deploying the manufacturing people there as well.
So, if you go back to the portfolio balance, it's not exactly perfect but we're probably as good as we've ever been and where you'd want to be in terms of the balance and different points with the lifecycle of the portfolio of programs that we have.
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