Boeing to cut 1,000 defense jobs: report

(Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) told employees it will have to cut around 1,000 jobs in its defense division because of Pentagon budget reductions, the Associated Press said, citing an internal memo from Jim Albaugh, the company's top defense executive.

Albaugh said the job reductions were needed to keep the company competitive, according to the news agency.

The memo did not give a time for the cuts, the news agency's report, which appeared on the New York Times website, said.

Boeing spokesman Dan Beck declined to say whether the job cuts were part of the 10,000 company-wide job reductions the company announced in January, the report said.

Boeing, the Pentagon's No.2 contractor, could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.

Albaugh had recently rejected speculation that the company, hard hit by U.S. defense cuts announced in April, was being edged out of the military aircraft market.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Valerie Lee)