FACILITY SHEDS 1,400 JOBS IN YEAR'S TIME; PLANT 42 COMMANDER UPBEAT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

Employment at Air Force Plant 42 in July dropped by 1,400 workers from the year-ago level, but the installation's commander said on Tuesday he was optimistic about the plant's future.

Employment at Plant 42 dropped from 9,900 on July 31, 1998, to 8,500 this July 31, the end of the reporting period. The combined payroll of the plant's tenants dropped from $494 million to $398 million.

A major factor in the decline is the continuing reductions at Northrop Grumman as work on the B-2 stealth bomber program winds down. Northrop plans to cut its Palmdale work force from 2,700 to 2,000 this year.

Since last summer, Boeing has laid off workers following completion of modifications to the space shuttle Atlantis. The company's military aircraft unit also cut its work force following the departure of the last B-1B bomber to receive maintenance work in Palmdale.

On the plus side, Boeing will be performing modifications on the orbiter Columbia starting this fall. The company also plans to assemble an experimental, unmanned rocket that will be tested both in the atmosphere and in space, said Lt. Col. Robert Catlin, Plant 42's commander.

``Boeing will be bringing back people for Columbia,'' Catlin said. ``Boeing also announced the X-37 is coming here so we'll have another space demonstrator.''

Another reason for optimism is the fact there is interest from other aerospace companies in acquiring Boeing's Site 9, the site where the B-1B bombers were built and maintained. Boeing has the site up for sale as part of a consolidation effort.

``There's potential for a new company, or new companies, to reside there,'' Catlin said.

One program that will have long-term implications for Plant 42 is the joint strike fighter. The program, the only major production contract on the horizon, is expected to create more than 20,000 jobs.

The two companies competing for the contract, Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are building their prototypes at Plant 42, but both companies are looking to assemble the fighters elsewhere during production.

State and Antelope Valley officials are lobbying the Pentagon and the companies to consider Plant 42 as the production site for the program.

In the meantime, both companies have expressed an interest in doing at least portions of the next phase of the program - a phase in which the initial aircraft is built and the aircraft's design is refined - in Palmdale, Catlin said.