| Submit your comments on this article |
| Economy |
| Britain's last fighter aircraft factory faces closure |
| 2009-08-02 |
| Britain's last fighter aircraft factory faces closure within five years after the governments decision last week to curtail its purchases of the Eurofighter Typhoon. The industry, founded on the Sopwith Camel in the first world war, is expected to come to an end when the last of the Typhoons rolls off the production line in 2014. The BAE Systems aircraft manufacturing plant at Warton, Lancashire, would close with the possible loss of 20,000 jobs at the site and in support trades. Under the Eurofighter deal, the RAF was due to receive 232 aircraft, now known as the Typhoon, in three batches. They were to be built at Warton as part of the joint British, German, Italian and Spanish project. Last Friday, however, it was announced that Britain would buy a total of only 160 aircraft in what is in effect a £4.5 billion defence cut. The number of RAF frontline Typhoon squadrons will be cut to five from the six that were planned. Gordon Brown repeatedly tried to pull out of the Eurofighter deal while he was chancellor but Britain itself insisted when the contract was negotiated in the early 1990s that each country must pay for all the aircraft it had committed to, regardless of whether or not it took delivery of them. Last week, however, Quentin Davies, defence equipment minister, said that the government had “no foreseeable plans” to buy any more aircraft beyond the 160 already delivered or on order, signalling that it had managed to find a way out of the contract. “We have no obligation to our partners to buy any more and we have no current intention or expectation of purchasing more at the present time,” said Davies. The government diverted 24 of the aircraft from the second tranche to Saudi Arabia in 2005, insisting that it was a temporary measure to relieve pressure on the hard-pushed defence budget and that the RAF would eventually get all of the 232 aircraft it had ordered. The fighter industry may, though, be given a reprieve by Germany, which is insisting that Britain must buy all 232 aircraft minus the 24 Saudi aircraft or face penalty payments. Francis Tusa, editor of the newsletter Defence Analysis, said: “The Germans are saying that the UK will have to take the remaining 48 aircraft in its contract or pay for them anyway.” BAE Systems referred questions on the governments Typhoon purchase plans to the Ministry of Defence. It said that it was already moving away from aircraft construction to support services. Related: Majority of advanced RAF jets go to Saudi Arabia The RAF will lose half of its most sophisticated batch of Eurofighter Typhoon with the majority going to Saudi Arabia it was disclosed after a deal for the final group of aircraft was announced. Despite spending more than £16 billion on the project over the last two decades the British are now going to end up with less than half of Typhoons from the Tranche 3 group. The Tranche 3 aircraft are specifically designed with built-in ground-attack capabilities that would prove highly effective in conflicts like Afghanistan. But the RAF are now only going to receive 40 of the advanced aircraft with 48 going to Saudi Arabia. The Air Force was originally to receive 88 Tranche 3 aircraft which have been described as a "generational difference" between the Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 variants. It has also been disclosed that the aircraft, which cost £90,000 to fly an hour, will be almost a decade late coming into service between 2015 and 2020. In a deal announced in Munich it was also confirmed that the RAF will fall 72 Typhoons short of the 232 originally envisaged for the aircraft designed to counter the Soviet Cold War threat. Agreement for the deal has been held up by detailed negotiations involving the manufacturers, BAE Systems in the UK, and the Eurofighter programme's European partner governments. The Government said those talks had secured £900 million of savings. Currently the RAF are desperately trying to get the Tranche 2 Typhoons into Afghanistan but are experiencing technical difficulties converting them to the ground attack role and do not have enough pilots trained. The Tranche 1 aircraft, designed to intercept Soviet fighters, are not even able to carry cruise missiles as their undercarriage is too weak. Four Typhoons are on 24 hour Quick Reaction Alert in Britain to intercept hostile aircraft. The Liberal Democrats attacked the deal as a "betrayal" of troops fighting in Afghanistan who needed more transport aircraft, especially helicopters. Willie Rennie, a defence spokesman, said: "Troops will find it hard to believe that the Government is pressing ahead with ever greater numbers of Cold War jets when it is transport aircraft, especially helicopters, that are so badly needed right now. Faced with a brutal conflict in Afghanistan, it is the lives of our brave servicemen and women that must come first." Cancelling the Typhoon order would have brought substantial financial penalties and likely job losses, but the Munich deal will keep about 15,000 jobs at BAE Systems. The Government has also been criticised for announcing the deal during the Parliamentary recess. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #2 The British are building 20% of the JSF for a 5% R&D investment. That's 20% of an eventual 5-6000 aircrafts while taking 2-3% of production. That share is more than the entire Eurofighter production. BAE execs are going to be living the "champagne wishes and caviar dreams" lifestyle are a long time. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-08-02 16:30 |
| #1 it's more important to support asshole Pak clerics and their concubines on the dole. Disgusting |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-08-02 15:26 |