Production of a Eurofighter Typhoon has come to a standstill as union chiefs have warned Labour of national security issues.
The final assembly line at the at BAE Systems’ Warton factory in Lancashire is winding down as the last jet for Qatar nears completion.
The facility, which has assembled Typhoons for decades, now houses just one aircraft awaiting final parts and painting before delivery under a £5bn order placed in 2017.
A union official told the Financial Times: “There is one jet in the hangar but it is basically waiting for a few parts and to be painted…As far as major assembly goes, it’s finished, it isn’t sustaining any workers.”
A Eurofighter Typhoon at BAE Systems, Warton Aerodrome, Lancashire (file pic)
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She noted that workers at BAE and across the UK defence industry “will be asking how a government promising to turn defence spending into ‘British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation’ could let it happen”.
Sharon Graham, general secretary at the Unite union, said workers at BAE and across the UK defence industry “will be asking how a government promising to turn defence spending into ‘British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation’ could let it happen.”
She added: “I have repeatedly told government ministers how much is at risk in terms of jobs, skills, and national security if we stop assembling our own fighter planes.”
The union’s concerns centre on the potential loss of critical aerospace industry skills needed for future defence programmes.
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Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham
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The UK government has not placed an order for new Typhoon jets since 2009, instead opting to purchase American-made F-35A fighter jets.
Defence Secretary John Healey told the defence select committee last week that Britain expects to purchase 27 F-35s to start arriving by the end of the decade, including 12 F-35As which are cheaper and capable of carrying tactical nuclear bombs.
The UK is the only nation in the Typhoon consortium that has not placed an order for the latest model of the aircraft, though it has committed to upgrading its current fleet with new radar systems.
The Typhoon is built by a pan-European consortium including BAE, Airbus and Leonardo.
RAF Typhoons have been a key part of the RAF fleet
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Conservative MP Andrew Snowden warned that if the government “fails to confirm this order soon, we face the very real prospect of losing… a vital national capability, the ability to design, assemble and deliver world-class military aircraft independently”.
Tim Robinson, editor of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Aerospace magazine, said the break in “continuous combat aircraft assembly in the UK should hopefully just be a temporary blip between follow-on export orders for more Eurofighter and then GCAP”.
However, Robinson cautioned that the “longer the gap, the more risk there is of a loss of key skills and critical experience that will be needed for next generation fighter aircraft”.
Industry executives said talks on securing new export orders from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey were progressing.
