aerospace - major contract goes to britain
WORKERS, SEPTEMBER 2003 ISSUE
In a victory for British industry, the government has awarded BAE Systems the £800 million contract to build up to 48 Hawk training jets for the RAF.
This reversed the earlier Treasury-inspired ruling that the contract would be put out to foreign tender, as demanded by European Union policy. (Reported in Workers, July 2003.)
Now the government is in two minds over an even bigger decision - who is to produce up to 2,000 new generation tanks at a cost of between £2 billion and £6 billion?
The Ministry of Defence wants to appoint BAE and Alvis as joint prime contractors, but the Treasury has intervened to urge an open auction that would let US defence contractors bid for the work.
Workers in the industry are concerned to ensure that these tanks are made in Britain.