Lockheed Martin CEO Warns of Mass Layoffs

Another round of defense spending cuts would dismantle the U.S. defense and aerospace business sector, which for decades has been "the arsenal of democracy," says Robert Stevens, CEO of Lockheed Martin.

The Pentagon is implementing a $350 billion cut over a decade. Unless lawmakers by January pass a package that slices the federal deficit by at least $1.2 trillion, national defense spending would be cut by another $500 billion over the same span.

Defense Department and industry officials have yet to determine what to do. As Marion Blakey, head of the Aerospace Industries Association, told DOTMIL, "our companies have to start planning and making decisions long before January."

The uncertain situation already "is a huge disruption to our businesses," Stevens says.

Defense firms in coming months would be forced to notify employees of massive numbers of layoffs across the nation, Stevens said during an AIA-sponsored forum in Washington. Industry officials and their congressional allies say thousands of jobs could be eliminated, causing further pain to America's still-ailing economy.

What's more, "we're already not hiring," Stevens, speaking as AIA chairman, said of Lockheed and other companies across the sector. Companies also would soon be forced to make a range of other business decisions-like closing facilities and relocating jobs to other sites in other regions-that would affect U.S. workers.

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