The Engineer

BAE Systems announces UK job cuts

News

BAE Systems’ Military Air Solutions (MAS) division plans to cull more than 700 employees from its workforce at five of its UK sites following a detailed review of its current business.

At Brough in East Yorkshire, 212 jobs could be lost owing to a reduction in manufacturing workload, predominately on the Hawk programme.

At Chadderton in Greater Manchester, 26 jobs could go as a result of decreased demand in the company’s large aircraft business, owing to the completion of VC10 work packages and the retirement of the Nimrod R1 in early 2011.

At the company’s Farnborough facility, 55 jobs could be slashed because of the government’s 2009 decision to reduce the number of Harriers in service, together with the imminent completion of the current contracted capability upgrades to the GR9 aircraft.

In Samlesbury in Lancashire, 149 potential job losses are down to the reduction in work packages undertaken by BAE Systems for Spirit Aerosystems (Europe) and changing workload levels across a number of other production programmes.

Also in Lancashire, this time at Warton, 298 positions may be axed as a result of reduced work on the Tornado, Harrier and Hawk programmes, together with a reduction in engineering development and test work.

Kevin Taylor, MAS managing director, said: ’While we regret having to make this announcement, we must ensure we remain competitive by having the correct skills, capabilities and resources.

’We appreciate this is difficult news for our employees and we are committed to working with our employees and their representatives to explore ways of mitigating these potential job losses and supporting our people at this time.’