Rockwell Collins to hire 800 over next year

Rockwell Collins plans to hire 800 over the next 12 months, about half of them in Iowa.

The Cedar Rapids-based aerospace electronics company offered the projection Wednesday as it joined 1,300 businesses, associations and organizations urging Congress to extend tax provisions that expired at the end of 2009 or scheduled expire at the end of 2010.

The Research and Development Tax Credit “has helped us invest in cutting-edge technologies that have positioned us as a global leader in the aerospace and defense electronics marketplace,” Chairman and CEO Clay Jones said.

Employment levels at Rockwell Collins have remained flat over the last two years, the company said.

Rockwell Collins said it invests about 19 percent of its sales on research and development annually. The company's R & D investment reached $860 million for the company's last fiscal year, which ended Oct. 2. It spent 90 percent of the amount in the United States.

The companies sent a joint letter to all members of Congress this week urging the extension of the R & D Tax Credit and other tax provisions they called “critical.”

The commercial aerospace industry has been picking up after a major slowdown caused by the recent recession.