BAE enlarges combat jet site

DEFENCE giant BAE Systems has kick-started construction of an extension to its manufacturing site for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in Lancashire as it prepares to ramp up production of the combat jet.

The company’s Samlesbury factory will be extended after the Government committed itself to buying 138 machines for the RAF and Royal Navy.

British aircrew and engineers are already training on the £100m fighter jets in America and 24 will eventually fly from the decks of the Royal Navy’s new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

Work on the factory is due to end in January 2017 and it will be capable of building up to 160 aircraft units a year.

BAE specialises in making the rear fuselage and tail surfaces.

Cliff Robson, who heads BAE’s F-35 operations, said the factory extension signalled an important milestone for the company’s involvement in the world’s biggest defence project.

He said: ‘We are proud of our role in the F-35 programme which will provide economic value to the region for decades to come.’

More than 3,000 F-35s are expected to be built over the next 20 years and will be flown by a host of different air forces around the world.

It’s estimated the programme will be worth £1bn a year to UK industry at its peak and it already supports 25,000 British jobs across the supply chain at more than 500 companies.

Through a work-share agreement UK firms from BAE to ejection seat-maker Martin Baker will produce 15pc of every F-35 which rolls off the final assembly lines. BAE employs 1,625 people on the programme.