Citing a market slowdown and program consolidations, the main launch firm at Vandenberg Air Force Base will lay off a total of 350 workers from its locations across the nation in February.

Just how many United Launch Alliance workers at Vandenberg will receive pink slips isn't known yet, officials said today.

“The precise number, with ties to location, we'll have before the end of the year,” said Julie Andrews, ULA spokeswoman.

With 4,200 employees overall, the firm has about 400 workers at Vandenberg and 775 for the East Coast launch site at Cape Canaveral, Fla.,

A second reduction, involving up to 350 more employees, could occur at the end of 2009, officials added.

ULA officials say several factors contribute to the planned layoffs.

The company formed in late 2006 from a merger of Lockheed Martin and Boeing's manufacturing and launch operations crews for the Atlas and Delta boosters.

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“We always knew we'd be smaller but I think there was an expectation that perhaps that shrinking would not have to be tied to a reduction in force,” Andrews said.

The merger also prompted elimination of Huntington Beach operations, which supported ULA during its first two years.

Additionally, ULA's workhorse rocket, the Delta 2, is feeling the pinch of a slower launch market, a completed contract for a series of missions and program restructuring.

“I think part of it was expected,” Andrews said of the reductions. “We knew the Delta 2 launch rate is coming down. That's been a predicted reality since we formed up. We knew just by forming up we were going to consolidate and eliminate some of redundancy expected when your combine two full programs.”

But adding to the firm's financial belt tightening is the Air Force budget crunch for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years, which affects military purchases of Atlas and Delta rockets

under the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.

“We'll watch that and see how it goes,” Andrews said, adding that officials hope they won't have to make further cuts.

Along with the launch sites, the firm has 685 workers at a Decatur, Ala., rocket manufacturing plant; 1,800 at company headquarters in Denver, Colo., and a smaller number of employees in San Diego and Harlingen, Texas.

ULA has notified workers of pending worker reductions, a first for the young company.

“Workforce reduction decisions are always difficult, but our actions are intended to ensure we retain the right skills and technical abilities to meet our current and future work, “ Michael Gass, ULA president and CEO, said. “We also intend to take reasonable steps to mitigate the disruption to our employees and will offer outplacement services to those who are affected.”

November 14, 2008