UTC already plans to cut 1,500 jobs in Connecticut but another 3,000 jobs might be gone if the Defense Department cancels production of the F-22 fighter jet, CEO Louis Chenevert said.
Jet-engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of United Technologies, builds engines for the F-22 and aerospace manufacturer Hamilton Sundstrand makes electrical power generation systems and electronic engine controls for fighter.
Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin makes the F-22 fighter jet, which according to Bloomberg is the most expensive aircraft in U.S. history.
The Obama Administration is expected to make an announcement on the future of the F-22 fighter jet next month when it gives Congress its defense budget. The cuts could come as part of a plan to cut military spending.
Of the almost 12,000 jobs to be cut globally, 1,500 of those jobs coming from Connecticut. The company employ 26,000 people in the state.
To fight the cuts, Lockheed bought daily newspaper advertisements over the last three weeks that focused on 1,000 companies and 95,000 workers who depend on the project, Bloomberg reports.
“If you’re looking for stimulus and to stop the bleeding and job losses, step one is to stabilize the current situation,” Larry Lawson, Lockheed’s F-22 program manager, said in an interview with Bloomberg. Cutting the F-22 would mean Lockheed and its suppliers “would start laying people off,” he said.
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Chenevert did not say where the additional job losses would come from if production of the F-22 fighter jet was canceled.