Lockheed campaigns to save missile

The Pentagon has suggested cutting a missile program that means billions in revenue and hundreds of jobs.

Orlando Sentinel 02/05/05
author: Christopher Boyd
(Copyright 2005 by The Orlando Sentinel)

Lockheed Martin Corp. has launched a counteroffensive against Defense Department budget cutters who want to eliminate funds for a new missile that the company is developing in Orlando.

Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control division in Orlando is spearheading design of the Joint Common Missile, an air-to-ground weapon that would replace several missiles now in use. The proposed 2006 federal budget, to be released Monday, is expected to drop funding for the program.

The Bush administration is expected to propose cuts in a variety of government programs to compensate for a ballooning budget deficit, which is projected to hit a historic high of $427 billion this year. The missile program will likely be part of the Pentagon's contribution to the cost-saving effort.

More than 240 Lockheed employees in Orlando and Ocala, and about 20 subcontractor workers elsewhere in the state, are attached to the project, which was launched last year. Lockheed said it couldn't estimate how many jobs might be cut or relocated if the program disappears.

The missile program is just one of the contracts Lockheed could lose if the president's budget proposal contains all of the cuts recommended by the Defense Department. Faced with the loss of about $18 billion in business, Lockheed is telling media organizations across the country how the reductions would affect their communities.

The company has made its case for the Joint Common Missile to congressional delegations from Florida and Alabama -- states where most of the work on the project would take place, though it is vague about how many jobs are at stake. Lockheed engineers typically earn $80,000 to $90,000 a year.