BAE chief fears 10,000 air jobs will go

THE British aircraft and avionics industry will face a dramatic decline and the loss of thousands of jobs once the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft project is finished, according to BAE Systems chief executive Mike Turner.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Turner said he expects up to 10,000 specialist jobs in the air systems industry to be lost in the next few years.

He blamed the Government's decision to order the next RAF combat aircraft, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, from America and added that industry expertise will be lost to Britain for ever.

'The Government is not prepared to face up to this. It means we will go down from 15,000 [jobs] to about 5,000 in this sector,' he said. Turner would like the Ministry of Defence to invest in facilities for the final assembly of the Joint Strike Fighter in Britain.

BAE is also concerned about the tortuous negotiations for technology transfer agreements to Britain over the Joint Strike Fighter programme, in which BAE has a 17% stake. There have been nine separate agreements so far.

'We must have the ability to maintain and repair in this country, otherwise each plane would have to go back to the States,' Turner said. 'We have to be very strong with the US about this. It's a hell of a fight.'