Job Losses Confirmed At BAE Sites
27 September 2011, 13:08 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50
Defence giant BAE Systems confirmed today that it is cutting almost 3,000 jobs at sites across the country, mainly in its military aircraft division - with 843 posts being cut at it's Warton and Preston site and 565 at Samlesbury.
The firm ended days of speculation by giving details of a huge redundancy programme, saying it needed to maintain competitiveness.
Ian King, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: ``Our customers are facing huge pressures on their defence budgets and affordability has become an increasing priority. Our business needs to rise to this challenge to maintain its competitiveness and ensure its long-term future.''
BAE announced that it had started a consultation about ending manufacturing at the Brough site, which currently employs 1,300 workers.
The firm said most of the job cuts would be in its military aircraft division, which is being affected by a slowdown in orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet.
Mr King said: ``Some of our major programmes have seen significant changes. The four partner nations in the Typhoon programme have agreed to slow production rates to help ease their budget pressures.
``Whilst this will help extend our production schedule and ensure the production line stays open until we receive anticipated export contracts, it does reduce the workload at a number of our sites.
``Pressure on the US defence budget and top-level programme changes mean the anticipated increase in F-35 production rates will be slower than originally planned, again impacting on our expected workload.
``To ensure we remain competitive, both in the UK and internationally, we need to reduce the overall costs of our businesses in line with our reduced workload.
``The proposals announced today aim to put the business into the right shape to address the challenges we face now and in the future and ensure we are in the best possible position to win future business.
``This transformation process is not going to be easy. We understand that this is a time of uncertainty for our employees and we are committed to working with them and their representatives to explore ways of mitigating the potential job losses.''
