WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. will trim its work force by about 800 employees, or 4.5 percent, by year’s end in a move intended to improve its overall competitiveness, the company announced Aug. 17.

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Warren Ferster is the Editor-in-Chief of SpaceNews and is responsible for all the news and editorial coverage in the weekly newspaper, the spacenews.com Web site and variety of specialty publications such as show dailies. He manages a staff of seven reporters...