One defense company. A factory closure notice and an expansion announcement, 17 days apart.

California's official WARN report lists a July 18, 2025 notice for 149 affected positions at L3Harris' 7821 Orion Avenue site in Van Nuys, with a September 30 effective date. Seventeen days after that notice, L3Harris showcased its AMF-South expansion in Huntsville. The company said it had invested more than $20 million in renovations; a Defense Production Act agreement helped fund equipment and tooling. It reported approximately 40 new local jobs and expected more than 100 additional jobs over the next few years. Those future jobs were a forecast, not a completed hiring count. The company's fiscal 2025 annual report also records $27.5 billion in orders and $38.7 billion in backlog. Those corporate figures do not establish the outlook for a particular site. The useful comparison is geographic and operational: which locations, programs and skills benefit from expansion, and which do not? These documents do not establish that California jobs moved to Alabama, that the two facilities make interchangeable products, or that public funding paid for layoffs.