BAE Lancashire facing 300 job cuts
NEARLY 300 management jobs could go at BAE Systems’ Lancashire base.
The defence group is proposing 440 job cuts across the country at its Military Air & Information (MAI) business in a bid to become more “efficient and effective”.
It will affect 19% of the division’s management and 286 people working at Samlesbury and Warton near Preston.
The MAI business is responsible for the manufacture and assembly of the Hawk training jet and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Chris Boardman, nanaging director of BAE Systems MAI, said: “It is always regrettable when you have to announce potential job losses. However, we believe that by implementing changes to our management structure we will become a more efficient and effective business, and be better placed to meet the needs of current and potential customers in what is an increasingly competitive market.
“We have a strong order book with Hawk, Typhoon and F-35 in production across our business and this, aligned with our extensive and growing in-service support work with the Royal Air Force and our overseas customers, provides a strong foundation for a long-term sustainable business.
“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 avoiding and mitigating potential job losses.”
BAE employs around 15,000 people in the North West at sites in Lancashire, Cumbria and Cheshire. It has 10,000 people making military jets at Samlesbury and Warton in Lancashire. A further 5,000 work on nuclear submarines in Barrow in Furness, and 450 at a munitions plant at Radway Green, Crewe. Overall the group employs 220,000 people around the world with 48,000 in the UK.
Lancashire is bearing the brunt of the proposed job losses, but other locations are: Brough, East Yorkshire (16); Christchurch, Dorset (18); Frimley, Surrey (22); RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire (22); RAF Marham, Norfolk (16); Other UK locations (53); Overseas (7).
