May 02, /Los Angeles, CA/ -- Flush with a profitable first quarter, defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. said Tuesday that it will hire 2,000 workers at several Southern California facilities during 2003, including 200 in Palmdale, its largest jobs expansion in years.

"This is the most significant employment increase since the mid-1980s when the B2 (stealth bomber) was ramping up into full production," said company spokesman Frank Moore.

The Palmdale new hires will work on the F-35 joint strike fighter, for which the company is the main subcontractor. About 1,100 new jobs are expected in El Segundo for design and development work on the fighter. The remaining new positions will be at the Space Technology Sector in Redondo Beach for the James Webb Space Telescope and weather satellites.

Century City-based Northrop Grumman, the nation's second-largest defense company, had said that it planned to ramp up employment, but this is the first time the number of jobs was identified.

"We continue to believe we are at the beginning of a period of long-term sustainable growth in defense spending," Ronald D. Sugar, Northrop Grumman's president and chief executive officer, said during a conference call to discuss earnings.

New jobs will boost a Southern California economy that's been stuck in neutral.

"That's good news for the local economy. These are high-paying multiplier jobs," said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

He's referring to the fact that one direct aerospace industry job creates 2.7 other positions in the region.

"These are very high-paying jobs. They are dream jobs, that's how you would characterize them," Kyser said.

Some of the positions result from new work in the space unit that Northrop Grumman acquired through its purchase of TRW Inc.

The TRW deal capped a several-year-long buying spree by Northrop Grumman, and the results showed up in the company's bottom line.

First-quarter net income was $253 million, or $1.34 per share, up from a loss of $283 million or $2.56 per share, in the same period last year.

Illustrating the impact of the TRW deal, revenues totaled $5.9 billion, up 49 percent from $3.9 billion a year ago. Sales at Northrop Grumman's core units before the purchase increased 10 percent.

"All of our operations and all sectors are hitting on all cylinders.

We are very pleased with these results," Sugar said.

The company's products saw extensive use in the Iraq war, including submarines, surface ships, battle field information systems and Global Hawk unmanned spy planes.

"It was an excellent quarter," said Paul Nesbit, an aerospace and defense sector analyst at JSA Research Inc. in Newport, R.I.

Sugar has taken over management of the company from former chairman and chief executive officer Kent Kresa, who retired April 1.

Kresa led the buying spree that saw Northrop Grumman grow from a company with about $7 billion in annual sales to one with sales in the middle of the $20 billion range.

"The concentration is definitely going to be on internal performance. They have a really good portfolio of products and services to work with," Nesbit said.

Earnings from continuing operations totaled $174 million in the quarter versus $149 million a year ago.

Given the unsettled international outlook, Northrop Grumman upped its financial forecast for this year. The company now expects earnings from continuing operations to range between $3.80 and $4.20 per share, up from prior guidance of $3.65 to $4.15 per share.

Sales are expected to range between $25 million and $26 million.

The company's stock closed Tuesday at $89.29 a share, up $2.76 cents or 3.19 percent.