Laid off from Textron.

What Textron layoffs have meant for employees

Kansas is where Textron's layoff filings pile up. Of the 139 our WARN tracker matches to Textron, 124 are Kansas filings from Cessna, Textron Aviation and the company Textron bought as Beechcraft in 2014, which had filed earlier as Raytheon Aircraft and then Hawker Beechcraft. The largest is Cessna's from January 2009, covering 2,800 jobs, in the middle of the program that cut more than a quarter of Textron's workforce by 2010. The old name outlasted the purchase, too, since a Georgia filing for a 2016 layoff in Atlanta still carried the Hawker Beechcraft name. If you're checking the history of a Kansas plant, the older filings sit under those earlier names, so searching for Raytheon Aircraft or Hawker Beechcraft turns them up.

At Bell and Textron Systems, the work rides on government programs, and so have several of the cuts on record. Textron moved to stop building a weapon whose foreign sales needed approvals that had grown hard to win, both units cut staff after programs were canceled in 2024, and Bell's 2026 layoffs and furloughs came while more funding for its Army aircraft waited on Congress. Not every cut there traces to a program, though, since Textron Systems said in a statement reported by The Post and Courier that it was closing Goose Creek after a review of its total footprint, and the city was told the work was moving to Maryland. If you work on a government program at either business, Textron's quarterly filings are where it has reported funding letters like the Army's, and they're worth reading alongside any notice you get.

Textron's industrial businesses have cut through integrations and slumping demand, and Textron has started to part with them. Specialized Vehicles shed jobs while it absorbed Arctic Cat and Jacobsen in 2018 and again when powersports demand fell, Kautex cut as European automakers ordered fewer fuel systems, and in April 2025 Textron sold the powersports business, Arctic Cat brand and operations included. In April 2026 it announced plans to sell or spin off Kautex and Specialized Vehicles, while warning that no deal is assured. If a transaction is announced and you work at either business, any notice to employees about the deal is the place to check whether service credit or a severance plan would carry over, and written answers on both are worth having before it closes.

If you're handed a package, it's worth confirming how it's paid and whether outplacement help comes with it, the two features Textron's own descriptions of severance have stressed. Textron's filings report severance as totals by plan, so if you get an offer, the plan document or agreement behind that offer sets your amount, and those terms are the points to raise if you end up negotiating a severance agreement.

Bell was cutting and building at the same time in 2026. When the June layoffs came, UAW Local 218 in Hurst was promoting applications for jobs at Bell's nearby advanced manufacturing center in Fort Worth, and Bell officials had said the crew of about 80 at the Wichita fuselage assembly center that opened that April could reach 300 as production grows, according to the Fort Worth Report. The filings behind this record sit mainly in four states, and Kansas unemployment benefits, Texas unemployment benefits, Georgia unemployment benefits and South Carolina unemployment benefits set out how a claim works in each.

A sourced history of Textron layoffs

• June 2026, Bell layoffs and furloughs in Texas and Kansas

  Bell's reduction in force reached 285 employees, about 3% of its workforce, nonunion Fort Worth roles among them, the Fort Worth Report reported, and some staff faced a three-week furlough from June 15.

• May to August 2026, Goose Creek plant closing

  Textron Systems notified state labor officials it was closing its Goose Creek, South Carolina, plant, according to The Post and Courier, with nearly 60 workers, most in technical jobs, due to be laid off between May 21 and Aug. 14.

• 2025, Textron Systems cuts after program terminations

  After certain U.S. government development programs were terminated, Textron Systems began cuts in the second quarter that came to about 85 positions and $5 million in severance costs, according to Textron's 2025 Form 10-K.

• 2023 to 2025, restructuring plan at four Textron businesses

  Begun as demand fell at Textron Specialized Vehicles and Kautex, the plan also cut at Bell and Textron Systems, widened after the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft and Shadow cancellations in 2024 and, per Textron's 2025 annual report, reached about 1,800 positions.

• 2020, pandemic restructuring at TRU and Textron Aviation

  The pandemic plan closed TRU's Montreal simulator production and cut an estimated 2,700 positions, Textron's 2020 annual report shows; Kansas filings in our WARN tracker from June 23 and July 14 listed 70 and 800 Textron Aviation jobs.

• 2019, Textron Aviation engineering cuts and a Kautex review

  Textron's 2019 plan cut about 1,000 positions by 2020, Textron Aviation's mainly in engineering after the Longitude certification, its 2020 Form 10-K says; Textron confirmed to KWCH most were in Wichita, and the station said some were offered severance packages.

• 2018, Textron Specialized Vehicles integration cuts

  Textron Specialized Vehicles cut 60 Augusta, Georgia, jobs while integrating Arctic Cat and Jacobsen, with severance and outplacement help for each worker, a spokesman said, per Powersports Business; according to the 2020 annual report, the unit's 2018 restructuring cut about 400 positions.

• 2016, plan ending sensor-fuzed weapon production

  Under the plan in Textron's 2016 Form 10-K, sensor-fuzed weapon production was set to end, Jacobsen joined Textron Specialized Vehicles and Textron Aviation cut jobs, with about 1,700 positions expected plan-wide and $70 million in severance recorded that year.

• April 2015, Bell job cuts in Texas

  Bell's April cost cuts removed about 1,100 jobs at about $40 million in severance and benefit costs, says Textron's annual report for 2016; Texas filings in our WARN tracker dated April 28 list 538 in Hurst among six Bell sites.

• Late 2008 to 2010, companywide restructuring program

  Begun in the fourth quarter of 2008, the program eliminated about 12,100 positions worldwide, about 28% of Textron's workforce, and exited 30 facilities by the end of 2010, according to its 2010 annual report.

What to do if you're laid off from Textron

• File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Textron's biggest hubs: Kansas, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
• Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Textron's hub states run: Kansas, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and every other state is here.
• Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
• Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
• Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.