David Davis MP welcomes new BAe arms deal

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As reported in the Goole Courier;

“A new arms deal that could help safeguard jobs at Goole’s BAe plant has been welcomed by local MP David Davis.

The company is to build 12 Typhoon and eight Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft for the Sultanate of Oman in a £2.5billion deal.

Mr Davis MP said: “This is a fantastic early Christmas present for BAe Systems and for its loyal, highly-skilled workforce. Oman’s decision to order BAE aircraft is testament to the talents and dedication of its employees and to the unrivalled performance of British-built aircraft.

I welcome the fact that this contract will protect jobs in East Yorkshire. However, with 120 redundancies planned at Brough for the New Year there is still much work to do to prevent further job losses.”

As well as supplying aircraft, BAe Systems will provide in-service support to the Royal Air Force of Oman’s operational tasks.

Deliveries are expected to commence in 2017.

Guy Griffiths, group managing director for BAe Systems international business, said: “Receiving this contract is an honour and is excellent news for both BAe Systems  and the Eurofighter Typhoon consortium. BAe Systems has a long history of working in Oman and we are delighted this contract will enable us to continue to work together. We believe that Oman has now added the most advanced fighter jet and proven training aircraft, available in the world, to its military portfolio.

“We look forward to working in partnership with Oman’s Ministry of Defence, and the Royal Air Force of Oman, to ensure this is a highly successful programme that maximises the potential of both Hawk and Typhoon.”

Oman becomes the seventh country in the world, and the second in the Middle East, to operate the Typhoon, joining the air forces of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and Saudi Arabia.

This order of Hawk AJT’s follows an order from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in May of this year. This order takes the total number of Hawk aircraft sold, or on order, to 998.”