TECHNOLOGY : Hughes Aircraft Co. to Put Irvine Connection Products Unit Up for Sale

Hughes Aircraft Co. said Monday that it plans to sell its Interconnect Systems division in Irvine.

The division, which has about 400 employees, makes electronic connection products for military and commercial uses. The business has suffered from a slump in sales during the recession and has cut its Irvine payroll by about 70 people in the past several months.

“It is being looked at by several companies,” said Richard Dore, spokesman for Hughes. “It is not a strategic fit since our focus is on making complete systems, and theirs is components.”

The division also employs about 50 people at AZ Engineering in Santa Ana and has 950 other employees in Alabama and Tijuana. Dore said the unit, like most other Hughes divisions, is reducing its work force. The Irvine business employed as many as 800 people in the mid-1980s.

Despite its emphasis on diversification into non-defense businesses, Hughes, based in Westchester and owned by General Motors Corp., agreed last month to buy the missile operations of General Dynamics Corp. for $450 million.