LOS ANGELES - The Boeing Co. says it will lay off 750 Southern California employees following the loss of a lucrative satellite contract to a rival aerospace firm.

Boeing says in a statement Tuesday the cuts will be focused on engineering staff at its El Segundo and Seal Beach plants.

The company says the first 100 employees will be notified this month, with the layoffs to occur in July.

"The stretching out of government contract awards, along with a continuing lighter demand in the commercial marketplace for large, high-power satellites, has created a surplus in the work force that must be addressed now so that we are competitive," Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, said in a press release. "The loss of any Boeing employee is truly a loss, so we will do as much as possible to help our employees locate other opportunities within Boeing."

The move comes after Boeing lost a major U.S. Air Force satellite contract to rival Lockheed Martin Corp.

Boeing spokesman, Lewis Brinson, said workers in the Seattle area will not be affected by the layoffs.

"It's a totally separate unit," he said. "It's only affecting workers in El Segundo and Seal Beach."

The reduction will take Boeing's satellite division staff from 7,200 employees to about 6,450.