STRATFORD, Conn. — Sikirosky will lay off 179 employees the company announced Tuesday.
A company spokesperson said they were making reductions within the Sikorsky business segment.
“Several major programs are progressing into production and no longer require the same level of development support. In addition, ongoing material shortages are impacting our cost-competitiveness," said the spokesperson in a statement. '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.”
In March, the company started laying off some employees from its plant in Stratford and these cutbacks are attributed to the company’s loss of a multi-million-dollar U.S. Army contract.
That reduction was part of a previously announced elimination of 800 jobs in the Rotary and Mission Systems division at Lockheed Martin.
The company was recently awarded a $650 million contract to upgrade the HH-60 helicopter for the U.S. Air Force.
In August, the U.S. Navy awarded Sikorsky a $2.7 billion contract to build 35 additional CH-53K helicopters.
This agreement includes 27 U.S. Marine Corps aircraft and eight aircraft for Israeli defense forces.
Sikorsky will begin delivering these aircraft in 2026.
in April, Sikorsky lost a round in its battle to regain the contract to build helicopters for the U.S. Army.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) denied the company's protest of the Army's decision and said in a report the Army had "reasonably evaluated" the Connecticut-based company's proposal for building the aircraft.
Sikorsky and Boeing protested the U.S. Army’s decision to replace its UH-Black Hawk with a new aircraft by Textron-owned company Bell.
The companies filed a complaint with the GAO to review the Army’s decision on the Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft contract.
Doug Stewart is a Senior Digital Content Producer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dstewart@fox61.com.
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