Hughes Will Lay Off More Employees : Downturn: The defense plant’s work force reduction is part of an effort to remain competitive.

To be more competitive in the continuing defense downturn, a Hughes Aircraft Co. defense plant here will lay off an undisclosed number of workers in the coming months, a company spokesman said Thursday.

The cuts, which sources said could involve hundreds of the company’s 8,812 employees in Orange County, are part of the company’s continuing reduction in its work force begun in 1986.

Dan Reeder, a spokesman for Hughes’ Ground Systems Group, said the company has been paring its work force through a combination of layoffs, attrition and selective hiring. But he declined to say whether the job cuts have accelerated.

“It’s still an uncertain defense world out there,” Reeder said. “The intent is to reduce the work force and remain competitive. Overall, layoffs have been kept to a minimum through attrition and retirements.”

Ground Systems, a subsidiary of Westchester-based Hughes Aircraft Co., has adopted its parent company’s aims of shifting its emphasis to more than 50% non-defense business by the late 1990s.

The Fullerton unit makes ground-based and shipboard radars, air-traffic control and electronic warfare systems, and anti-submarine equipment. Other programs include a troop navigation system used by the Marine Corps and the Firefinder radar system that tracks enemy artillery fire, both of which were used during the Persian Gulf War.

Despite the new emphasis on non-defense work such as building air-traffic control systems, the company’s employment has been sliding for several years. Employment peaked at the division in 1986 at about 15,000 employees. It has slid since then because of defense cuts, fewer new programs and the company’s effort to reduce its dependence on defense revenue.

“We are diversifying and are cushioned somewhat from catastrophic blows” that firms with a heavy reliance on defense contracts could face, Reeder said.

The Hughes unit cut 2,000 jobs in 1989, but the job reductions slowed last year when employment shrank by just 236 jobs. But the pace has apparently picked up. On Feb. 20, Ground Systems had 8,812 employees, down 119 from 8,931 on Dec. 20, Reeder said.