General Dynamics To Cut About 50 Jobs at APG

General Dynamics announced this week it will eliminate as many as 52 jobs this summer at due to the expiration of one of the defense giant’s contracts with the U.S. Army.

A spokesman for the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation said the agency was notified June 13 that the jobs would be cut beginning as early as July 15 and ending as late as Sept. 15.

General Dynamics said the job cuts in Aberdeen were the result of the expiration of an Army contract under which the company provided information technology training personnel at APG.

The job eliminations are part of a 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission plan to relocate APG’s Ordnance Mechanical Maintenance School to the site of the Army’s larger Ordnance Center and Schools in Fort Lee, VA, according to Denise Carnaggio, deputy director of the Harford County Office of Economic Development.

The job losses at the school have been long expected by economic planning officials, Carnaggio said, and will be more than offset by the new jobs that are being moved into APG.

An estimated 8,200 Army jobs have been moved into APG as a result of the 2005 BRAC plan, while another 7,500 to 10,000 contractor jobs have been, or will be, created in the area, she said.

General Dynamics, based in Fall Church, VA, is one of the nation’s largest defense contractors, with about 90,000 employees worldwide.