The order book at Raytheon could shrink by $1.75 billion according to an SEC filing by the company. Raytheon had been counting on a $900 million order from an unnamed company for its new Hawker Horizon bizjet. Market conditions and developmental delays mean the order “could be restructured or canceled,” the Associated Press reported the filing as saying. Another $850 million order from Flight Options LLC is also in jeopardy. Raytheon may take over the struggling fractional-ownership company. Meanwhile, at its home base in Wichita, employees are trying to stop the company from contracting out their work to outside companies. The Wichita Eagle reported that the workers planned a rally called “Stand for Wichita’s Jobs” on Saturday. The rally was to take dead aim at Raytheon’s recently announced proposals to send parts and subassembly work elsewhere, including Mexico. By 2006, the company plans to do only final assembly in Wichita. Such a move could eliminate 3,000 Wichita jobs, according to union officials. They claim the jobs will be lost forever regardless of an improvement in market conditions.
