Rockwell Lays Off 50 B-1 Workers: Rockwell...

Rockwell Lays Off 50 B-1 Workers: Rockwell International said it has begun laying off 50 workers at its Palmdale plant, resulting from the Air Force’s grounding of the B-1 bomber. The service grounded the plane on Dec. 19 as a “safety precaution” after two of the aircraft developed engine fires. Failure of fan blades in the B-1’s General Electric engines is the suspected cause in both incidents, the Air Force said. The Rockwell workers are involved in modifying and maintaining the Air Force’s fleet of 97 B-1s, which were produced by Rockwell. A company spokesman said the workers will be recalled once the Air Force lifts the order grounding the bombers.