£300m MoD contract secures Yorkshire jobs
MORE than 100 Yorkshire jobs have been secured with the announcement of multi-million pound contracts to maintain the RAF’s fleet of Hawk jet trainers.
BAE Systems has been awarded three servicing contracts worth almost £300m to support the UK’s fleet of Hawk fast jet trainer aircraft until 2020.
The contracts sustain more than 600 jobs with BAE Systems and its maintenance partner Babcock in North and East Yorkshire, North Wales, Cornwall and Lancashire. These include 65 at RAF Leeming and 50 at Brough, East Yorkshire.
Peter Jones, head of Hawk UK availability at BAE Systems, said: “These contracts will allow us to continue to deliver end-to-end service for our Hawk customers. Currently we ensure that 95% of the Hawk fleet is available at any one time and we are confident in our ability to continue to deliver this.
“Together with our service delivery partner, Babcock, we have managed to improve the level of support service offered to our customers and reduce the costs of their Hawk fleet. These contract awards demonstrate the excellent relationship between BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence.”
Hawk is the advanced jet trainer at the heart of the training system which prepares the Royal Navy and RAF’s next generation of pilots for life in fast jets. Using advanced airborne simulation technology and a new generation of cockpit environment provides a smoother and more cost effective transition to the front-line for pilots.
Hawk has been used to train more than 20,000 pilots in air forces across the world with more than 1,000 Hawks now delivered or on order.
