Thirty-eight Apaches is less than I thought....
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/boeing- ... eate-jobs/
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/201 ... -leonardo/
30 January 2017 • 3:09pm
Norman Bone, the boss of Leonardo MW, the recently relaunched company which incorporates the former Agusta-Westland business,
has attempted to play down fears about the future of the company’s helicopter manufacturing plant in Yeovil, Somerset,
saying the UK will continue to build military helicopters for decades to come.
Worries about the plant’s future emerged after a £2bn contract for 50 new Apache helicopters
was awarded to Boeing last summer,
despite the UK’s current fleet of Apaches having been constructed at Yeovil.
With no major orders on the horizon,
the future of military helicopter production in the UK was questioned by military observers and formed the subject of a Westminster debate last week.
However, Mr Bone, the new managing director and chairman of UK operations at the Italian-owned business, said he had no fears about producing military helicopters for the British Armed Forces.
Fears were heightened in October,
when it emerged that work on Wildcat helicopters previously done by British aerospace company GKN under contract at the Yeovil plant was being brought in-house by Leonardo.
Almost 250 staff at GKN were made redundant as a result.
Mr Bone acknowledged it was the “logical” decision to buy new Apaches from Boeing because it was cheaper as they were tacked on to a massive order for the US Army.
However, he said the UK government needed to consider the wider economic impact when selecting future purchases of helicopters, and “balance” this against cost.
This point could prove difficult in next few months for Leonardo.
When GKN lost its contract last year, insiders claimed that the work could be sent to Italy to maintain jobs in the parent company’s home nation.
Mr Bone said it is not yet known whether the work will be done in the UK or elsewhere, and the decision will be made by the summer.
A sticking point for moving the work could prove to be the MoD owning the equipment the parts are built on, and defence chiefs would have to give their approval for it to go abroad.
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