BAE Systems’ sprawling factory in Warton, Lancashire, has been assembling combat aircraft for more than a century, building everything from Tornado fighters and Hawk training jets to the Eurofighter Typhoon.
But more than three decades since the launch of the Typhoon, work on the final assembly line is starting to dry up amid a slowdown in new export orders for the UK and as yet no new commitment from the Labour government. Warton is due to deliver the last of two jets to Qatar in the first half of next year under an export deal sealed six years ago and, with no new orders agreed for the UK, employees are anxious.
There is a “massive worry about the near future”, said Steven McGuinness, a member of the Unite trade union executive council.
The government’s recent decision to proceed with plans to build the next generation fighter aircraft together with Japan and Italy was welcome, he added, but workers were concerned about the outcome of the ongoing strategic defence review and the “lack of any definite export orders” for the UK.
BAE Systems is one of the largest private sector employers in Lancashire, employing about 10,000 people across its Warton and nearby Samlesbury sites over a number of combat air programmes. About 6,000 work directly on the Typhoon programme.
Although the number of staff on the final assembly line is relatively small — typically about 50 — they help make Britain among the handful of countries capable of building advanced fighter jets. The UK needs their skills to fulfil its role in the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
BAE and Warton are “central to the North West’s economy and the UK’s defence industry”, said Andrew Snowden, Conservative MP for Fylde, adding that he had “repeatedly” raised concerns about the future of Typhoon production.
“Most recently, I asked whether the RAF’s plans to order 24 Typhoon jets were included in the Budget, only to discover they are not,” he added.
Unlike the UK, all other partner nations in the Eurofighter Typhoon consortium — Germany, Italy and Spain — have committed to new orders. Germany said in June it would order additional jets, while Spain and Italy placed new orders this month, bolstering the aircraft’s order book over the next decade. The UK’s last order — for the third tranche of the Typhoon — was placed in 2009.
The Typhoon consortium involves BAE, Airbus and Leonardo, with each company building different parts for every aircraft. They also operate a final assembly line in each partner nation — when a partner nation orders jets, or leads on an export deal, it assembles the aircraft.
BAE builds all the front fuselages for the jet at its Samlesbury site. In the case of the recent German, Spanish and Italian orders, the fuselages will be sent to the continent for final assembly.
For export orders one company takes the prime contractor position depending on the nation’s political ties. The UK is the lead Eurofighter export nation for Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, with BAE taking the prime contractor role.
There have been expectations of new orders from Qatar and Saudi Arabia for some time but none have yet been confirmed. Once the last two jets for Qatar are delivered next year, BAE is expected to keep some work going on the final assembly line with research and development for future projects. The company has, in the past, also redeployed workers across the wider Typhoon programme and other combat air projects.
BAE told the Financial Times that its Typhoon production line was “currently underpinned by the orders from Qatar, Germany and Spain, which ensure continuity of production of major units beyond the late 2020s”. The company, it added, takes its “responsibility to retain our high value skills and capabilities seriously”.
An added concern for workers, meanwhile, is that the government may decide to buy more advanced US F-35 aircraft to replace old Typhoons being taken out of service, amid suggestions the Royal Air Force is keen to secure more of the stealth jets.
The UK is regarded as a “tier one” partner on the Lockheed Martin-led F-35 programme — about 15 per cent of the components are built in Britain, including the aft fuselage of every jet by BAE — but the company’s workers argue that national sovereignty is at stake.
It was “important to ‘buy British’ so that people keep the muscle memory and the skills of how to do final assembly line work”, said McGuinness, adding that it was about preserving the UK’s “freedom of action”.
Buying F-35s “doesn’t work for UK plc”, said Rhys McCarthy, Unite national officer for aerospace. “Do we buy F-35s and ‘make America great again’ or do we buy Typhoons and support British industry,” he asks.
Francis Tusa, editor of the Defence Analysis newsletter, added: “I don’t think it’s better buying from the US any more. How do you keep capabilities and workforce and skills going until GCAP if there is no manufacturing.”
The partners in the GCAP programme have promised to have an aircraft flying by 2035, with production expected to start towards the end of the decade.
Paul Livingston, chief executive of Lockheed Martin in the UK, said the group had been a “strategic partner” for Britain’s defence establishment for more than 80 years.
He declined to comment on any talks with the government but stressed the F-35’s capabilities. The UK’s “ageing fourth-generation [fighter] fleet is nearing the end of its production life and can only be upgraded so far through expensive development programmes that introduce an element of risk”, he said. Meanwhile, the “fifth-generation F-35 can today undertake most of the required roles”.
The Ministry of Defence said the government’s new industrial strategy would help to make the defence sector an “engine for UK growth and will strengthen domestic supply chains”.
The government, it added, remained “committed to ensuring that [Typhoon] remains at the cutting-edge of the UK and Nato combat air power until its retirement” and it would continue to work with BAE to upgrade existing jets.
