Lockheed Martin Corporation recently announced that it has laid off 44 workers from the company's high-tech training unit in Orlando. The company said the layoffs from Lockheed Martin Simulation, Training & Support were necessary because of a decline in workload.

Those who lost their jobs include local computer engineers who were responsible for working on certain military training-simulator programs, which are soon coming to an end; systems engineers; software engineers; and hardware engineers. The workers will receive outplacement help from an unnamed company, severance pay and some extension of benefits.

According to an article by the Orlando Sentinel, those workers made up about 2.2 percent of Lockheed Simulation's workforce. The company, which is the largest in the area's high-tech training-simulation industry, currently has about 2,000 employees throughout several locations in Orlando.

Officials at Lockheed said the company also is experiencing a delay in funding from the U.S. military for new programs. The company also has lost some contract bids it had expected to win.

This latest round of layoffs is the company's first in eight years, with the last layoff on record taking place during October 2001, when the company eliminated 50 jobs because of unexpected delays in funding for a major training contract for the Navy.

During March, Lockheed's information-systems unit in Orlando eliminated about 30 jobs in an effort to streamline its computer-support and administrative work.

Lockheed currently employs about 7,400 workers in Central Florida, including those in missiles, training technology and information technology in Orlando and those in space-systems work in Cape Canaveral. Lockheed is the largest defense contractor in the country.