BAE To Follow Lockheed Martin On Job Cuts

(MoneyWatch)  BAE announced that with the House Armed Services Committee marking up the 2010 Defense Authorization bill without sparing the Future Combat System (FCS) that they will have to cut jobs at their Fridley, MN plant. This is where the actual gun for the Non-Line-of-Sight-Cannon (N-LOSC) part of FCS is made. This is the most advanced of all the many types of vehicles to be built as part of the system and was expected to go into low rate production soon.

While the cancellation of the program has been done the Army and Defense Department are already talking about the next vehicle combat system for the Army. Certainly the technology developed already by the Army to include this gun would be able to be used. The issue with the FCS vehicles was that they did not take into account the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Which makes sense as the requirements for them were probably initiated back around the time of Desert Storm.

BAE says that the plant employs four hundred workers making the cannon and all of them may not lose their job. There is always the possibility that the company can find other work for them or another contract might be won of some sort. The local Congressman, Democrat Keith Ellison, at least throws out that maybe the Federal Government could offer some money for job transition to those who eventually are laid off. It might be cheaper just to buy a few hundred of the system.