United Launch Alliance has issued layoff notices to 48 employees at Vandenberg Air Force Base, according to the company’s notice to the California Employment Development Department.

The firm, which launches Atlas V and Delta IV rockets, alerted the state EDD in a March 29 letter about the layoffs.

“United Launch Alliance continues to transform our company to provide cost-effective solutions for our customers, while we maintain our focus on mission success,” spokeswoman Jessica Rye said in a written statement.

“As we announced last year, ULA would have two reductions in force, one in 2016, which was completed, and one in 2017 to accomplish our business goals. We hope to accomplish the majority of the 2017 reductions through voluntary layoffs.

Companies are required to alert the state of California as part of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification or WARN rules.

The law requires employers to give a 60-day notice to the affected employees and both state and local representatives prior to a plant closing or mass layoff.

“We appreciate all of our team members' contributions and understand the difficulty and stress that workforce reductions place on the impacted employees and their families,” ULA officials said.

The jobs will end June 1, according to the letter, and include both union and non-union employees. Layoffs are expected to be permanent.

Affected employees currently hold assorted jobs, including technicians and engineers.

ULA officials declined to say how many employees the firm has at Vandenberg.

“We are not specifically addressing the number of employees to protect competitively sensitive information,” Rye said.

Created in 2006 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Corp. and The Boeing Company, ULA has 3,400 employees across the country, according to the corporate website.

Other work sites are Decatur, Alabama, and Harlingen, Texas, for rocket manufacturing and assembly; Cape Canaveral, Florida, for East Coast launches; and Denver, Colorado, for corporate headquarters.

— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.