The several thousand Lockheed Martin employees furloughed due to the partial federal government shutdown will soon return to work now that the government is back in business, announced company officials. “We are pleased that Congress and the [Obama] Administration reached an agreement to end the current US government shutdown,” states an Oct. 17 company release. “Approximately 2,400 furloughed Lockheed Martin employees [will return] . . . to work soon. We expect all US government facilities to open, stop work orders to be lifted, and for our operations to return to normal as soon as our customers are all back in place and have informed us that we may resume many critical programs that were halted during the shutdown,” it states. The 16-day government shutdown reportedly cost the Defense Department more than $600 million.
The U.S. military conducted strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen for the second day in a row March 16, hours after U.S. Air Force fighters helped fend off a drone attack by the Houthis in retaliation for an earlier round of U.S. strikes.