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Electric Boat To Hire 650 Workers

Submarine maker plans to hire 650 workers in the upcoming new year to help with the construction of the new Virginia-class Missouri sub and other projects, EB President John Casey said.

GROTON, Conn. (AP) -- Submarine maker Electric Boat plans to hire 650 workers in the upcoming new year to help with the construction of the new Virginia-class Missouri sub and other projects, EB President John Casey said.

Local officials welcomed the news as one of the few bright spots in the current recession. But Casey warned that while the outlook for EB in 2009 is "very, very stable," the company may need to cut 1,000 employees at the end of 2009 or in 2010 as ship work declines while it waits for a planned production increase in 2011.

EB, a subsidiary of Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics, is in a partnership with the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard in Virginia to build one submarine a year for the Navy. Production is set to increase to two ships a year in 2011.

EB intends to hire 400 trades workers, 200 engineers and 50 designers to help with the Missouri project, ongoing design work, maintenance and modernization projects, Casey told local lawmakers and others attending the company's annual legislative breakfast on Tuesday. The hirings are expected in late winter or early spring.

Electric Boat employs more than 10,000 workers at its Groton shipyard and its factory in Quonset Point, R.I.

The company announced last month that it was awarded a $286 million contract for planning, engineering and technical support of nuclear submarines, with work expected to be finished in October 2009. EB said the contract has a potential value of $1.8 billion over five years if all options are exercised and funded.

The Navy has a multibillion-dollar plan to replace Los Angeles-class submarines with 30 Virginia-class subs, and the contract with EB and Northrop Grumman Newport News involves the first 10 subs. The companies have delivered five of those ships to date.

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