Oct. 3—Sikorsky Aircraft is laying off 179 employees a company spokesman confirmed late Tuesday.
A statement from Sikorsky said the layoffs were triggered by "several major programs progressing into production and no longer requiring the same level of development support."
"In addition, ongoing material shortages are impacting our cost-competitiveness," the statement said in part. "This was a difficult decision to make, and we intend to retain as many people as possible to fill our open business-critical positions that are required to support urgent national security missions. Sikorsky is taking these actions to ensure cost-competitiveness in the future."
No information was immediately available on Tuesday regarding when the layoffs would occur. State Labor Department officials said they had not received any notification regarding layoffs at Sikoorsky.
U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal called the layoffs "deeply disappointing." Blumenthal said his office has confirmed the bulk of the Sikorsky employees being laid off are engineers.
" Sikorsky's engineers are among the best in the world and there are numerous companies in Connecticut that could benefit from their tremendous talent," he said. "My office stands ready to do whatever we can to help all who are affected by this upsetting decision."
It was not immediately clear if these layoffs are connected to an announcement made earlier this year by Lockheed Martin. Company officials said at the time they planned to eliminate 800 jobs in the rotary and mission systems division, but didn't say how many Sikorsky jobs would be cut.
The company currently employs 8,000 people in Connecticut and 13,000 in all, with its workforce expanding and ebbing over the years depending on military orders.
The layoffs are coming just six months after Sikorsky lost a challenge of a decision by the U.S. Army to award a contract for the replacement of the Blackhawk helicopter to rival Bell.
In August, Sikorsky landed a nearly $2.8 billion contract with the Marine Corps to mass produce a new heavy-lift helicopter.
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