More Than 200 Face Layoffs at Aerojet Plants

The Aerojet unit of Gencorp said Thursday that it would lay off several hundred workers at its Downey and Chino plants because of the loss of a contract competition.

The Aerojet Ordnance facilities in Chino and Downey employ 600 workers, and a spokesman said Thursday that the layoffs would affect more than 200 but would not result in a complete closure of the facilities.

Last August, Sacramento-based Aerojet closed its Tustin facility after it encountered problems winning new business there. The Tustin operation had employed as many as 1,000 workers, the spokesman said.

The layoff at Aerojet Ordnance follows the loss to Honeywell of a $124-million contract to build 13,500 combined-effect munition systems for the Air Force. Aerojet has made the munition, which consists of 202 small bombs inside a container, for several years.

The loss “will have a major impact on the future direction of our company and our level of employment,” Edward F. Davidson, the Aerojet executive in charge of the ordnance unit, said in a statement.

Davidson said the company would have to “phase out” the combined-effect munitions business quickly “to protect our ammunition contracts,” referring apparently to an effort to trim overhead rates that would affect its competitive position on other contracts at the operation.

The spokesman said no layoffs are planned at Aerojet’s ElectroSystems unit in Azusa.