Defense Contractor

In a closely watched, highly competitive deal to lure the headquarters of one of the country's largest defense contractors, Northrop Grumman is rejecting Maryland and putting its main office in Virginia, the company confirmed Monday night. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell of Virginia is expected to announce today that the company will relocate its California headquarters and 300 employees to his state, economic development officials confirmed. Gov. Martin O'Malley learned about the decision in a late afternoon call with Northrop chief executive Wesley G. Bush, said O'Malley spokesman Rick Abbruzzese.

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp. said Tuesday that it is laying off 37 employees at its Middle River site, part of nationwide cuts in its mission systems and sensors division. The company notified 472 U.S. employees Tuesday their jobs are being cut. Most affected employees will stay on for two weeks before leaving with severance packages, the company said. The Middle River site, which specializes in a missile launch system used on Navy ships, will employ 531 people after the cuts.

Jerome Smith McManus, a retired defense contractor and Orioles tour guide, died April 6 at Maryland Shock Trauma Center. He was 78 and lived in Mays Chapel Village. Family members said he suffered an apparent heart attack while in the parking lot of a Cockeysville store. His car struck a utility pole. Born in Baltimore and raised on Whitney Avenue, he was the son of James I. McManus, a Baltimore & Ohio Railroad executive, and the former Mary Smith, whose family lent its name to Smith Avenue in Mount Washington.

Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to promote Maryland as the "national epicenter" for cyber security innovation and to team with the state's Washington delegation to vie for billions in government spending as the global war on terrorism intensifies efforts to protect computer networks. State and industry officials said Maryland is better positioned than other areas, such as California's Silicon Valley, to be the premier cyber security hub because major defense agencies are based here already.

Giant defense contractor Northrop Grumman said Monday that it plans to move its corporate headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington area by 2011, solidifying the growing importance of Washington as a center for the defense industry and other businesses. Northrop executives said they are looking for a site in Maryland, Virginia or the District and plan to identify one by this spring. The company, whose biggest customer is the Pentagon, makes military planes, tanks, ships and other equipment.

One of the nation's largest defense contractors is moving the headquarters of one of its business sectors to Canton Crossing, bringing 80 employees - many with six-figure salaries - to the city. Edina, Minn.-based Alliant Techsystems Inc., the world's largest producer of solid-fuel rocket motors for the military and NASA, is moving the headquarters of its Mission Systems Group from Minneapolis to Baltimore in January, said group president John J. "Jack" Cronin. The company, which is more commonly known by its NYSE ticker symbol ATK, already employs 586 in Elkton.

SEATTLE -- In, I guess, the early 1990s, when I worked for CNN, I found myself one evening at a Washington reception, chatting with an oil company executive and one from a defense contractor. The oil man said, "How's business?" Delighted and emboldened by the discovery that businessmen actually say this to one another, I arched a conspiratorial eyebrow and said, "Well, we could use another war." The defense contractor said, "So could we." The oil man said, "So could we - as long as it's in the Middle East."

We want your opinions ISSUE: Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens is pushing for a math and science magnet program for Meade High School, and she says a major county employer - defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. - is ready to become a partner in the effort. Local, state and military leaders have pursued a magnet program at Meade to bolster the school's academic reputation and attract thousands of defense workers, mostly from Northern Virginia, who are considering whether to relocate to Fort Meade amid base realignment.