Raytheon lays off 60 in Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Raytheon Company announced layoffs Thursday for 60 employees at its Fort Wayne facility. According to a company spokesperson, 25 of the 60 volunteered to be laid off.

Dave Desilets told NewsChannel 15 the defense and aerospace company will try to find positions for the laid off workers at other Raytheon facilities. If that doesn't happen, the workers will be given a severance package based on years of service.  Raytheon will also help them find positions outside the company.

“It’s a difficult decision that was not taken lightly, but it was necessary to align our workforce in Fort Wayne with the current and future business requirements,” said Desilets.

An unidentified Raytheon employee who was not laid off told NewsChannel 15 on Friday employees are handling it well and so is the company.

"People are upset obviously, but it seems like people are taking it well, everyone is being nice to each other. I'll be honest I'm pretty young I've never seen anything like this before, and it seems to be going pretty well," said a Raytheon employee.

Raytheon employs more than 1,000 people at its facility on Production Road in Fort Wayne.