From The Times February 11, 2010

Nuclear order not enough to spare 300 BAE jobs

Britain’s investment in a multibillion-pound nuclear submarine programme has not been enough to save cuts of 5 per cent in the 4,500-strong workforce at BAE Systems’ naval base in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria. And the retirement of the old Nimrod surveillance aircraft took the number of redundancies in one day at the arms group to nearly 300.

BAE, ordered last week to pay £285 million to US and UK regulators over accusations of false accounting and making misleading statements, said yesterday it has issued redundancy notices on 230 jobs at Barrow. John Hudson, the group’s submarines boss, said the cuts were needed to ensure its operations were “sustainable” and to allow BAE to deliver the Astute nuclear submarine programme “in line with the expectations of value” of the Ministry of Defence.

Unions condemned the move.Bernie Hamilton, a national officer for Unite, said: “This is an extremely disappointing decision. BAE Systems cannot afford to lose out on any of the skills these workers possess.”

Hugh Scullion, general secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding Engineering Unions, added: “This is not the time to rid the shipbuilding industry of its skills base. There is an ongoing build-up of work on the carrier project and more work to continue with the Astute project.”

A spokesman for BAE said: “This is part of a regular review of the size and shape of our operations, about making us more more efficient and more productive. Plainly there is not enough workload to sustain the current workforce going forward.”

It is understood that 142 electricians and steelworkers are going on the shopfloor, with another 88 being shed from middle management and the human resources and communications areas.

The Astute, seven of which are being built, are the most technologically advanced nuclear submarines in the world. One has begun sea trials and three more are under construction. At a cost of £1.2 billion each, the submarines will, says the MoD, be a step-up in the Navy’s ability to hunt and destroy enemy vessels.

With the ability to circumnavigate the world underwater undetected, an Astute sub only needs to return to base every six months to top up crew supplies.

It also emerged yesterday that BAE is cutting a further 57 jobs at its Chadderton military air solutions operations in Lancashire, and at RAF Kinloss in Morayshire. A spokesman for BAE said that the cuts are as result of the retirement of the old Nimrod MR2 squadron.

• Anti-arms campaigners have asked the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to reconsider a landmark deal to settle bribery allegations against BAE Systems, the defence group.

Corner House, a social justice group, has written to the SFO protesting against an agreement struck last week under which BAE agreed to pay £30 million and to plead guilty to minor accounting violations, people familiar with the letter said.

Lawyers unconnected to the case said that campaigners may attempt to block the deal by seeking a judicial review in the High Court. A Corner House official confirmed that it had written to the SFO regarding the BAE deal and said that the group was taking legal advice, but would not comment further.

The SFO and BAE declined to comment.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article7024284.ece

Are typhoons providing northern QRA yet? I thought there was only 1 squadron of Tornado F3 at Leuchars after the draw down.

Perhaps a bit of lenience can be shown to new members and not jump right on them if they get it wrong. This probably puts them off posting again. This forum could do with some new imput and topics.

What is it then?

Until we know the cost we won’t know if it saves money. Normally you would need to fire a salvo of rockets at a target and then more if you miss. Now it can maybe be done with 1+ rockets.
Is it only helicopters these can be fired from? I was thinking if they worked with fast jets that would be good as i imagine it’s harder to hit a target in a Harrier doing 500mph than from a helicopter doing 60mph.

I don’t want this to start arguments again but put simply the 777 is was and will be too big for the tanker competition. The problem arises from the difference in capability and size between the 767 and the A330. It’s hard to write a competition without picking a winner as they are 2 completely different aircraft.
In straight numbers the A330 offers more capability more fuel capacity, more off load, bigger cargo, more passengers etc without impacting too much on operating issues, weight, take off run etc. A 777 while offering more fuel offload and carrying ability would impact on these things.
The 767 is a good aircraft from some points but it is at the end of it’s development, It’s an old design and is not going to offer up things like what happened with the KC-135 upgrades (taking engines and mounts from old 707 airliners etc).
Now at present the A330 doesn’t really offer this either but there is more chance of a new model or other upgrades on future civilian versions.
Pfcem i don’t know why you keep saying the A330 didn’t win. It quite clearly was picked by the USAF. This was the aircraft they wanted. This is shown because they picked it. They even broke the competition rules just to say they wanted the A330/KC30 instead of 767.
If the US wants a straight replacement for the KC-135 then 767 fits the bill. personally i think they should increase capability. Imagine saying the Sherman tank was ok so it should do fine for the next 100 years or my 1920’s bi-plane flies so lets just stick with that.
Ideally in the US i would be looking at possible remote/crew less tanker flying and for this you want an aircraft that can be based close to the battle zone and have lot of fuel to off load.

Yeah it’s not real time as usual Wiki maps got it wrong. Does anyone know when you are looking at google maps can you find out the date the picture was taken on? I saw another picture that was dated March 2009 and it is the same as the supposed real time photo.
If your looking round the yard at the carrier you can see quite a few interesting things. There is a typhoon just round the corner and some more subs and ships dotted about.
While reading about the carrier i read that it is starting sea trials in 2010 and will be handed to India in 2012. Anyone have a date?
Who’s going to crew it will it be Russians navy or ship yard staff or Indian navy staff?
I also wonder when the first aircraft trials will be? Has the Mig 29K been tested on Russia carrier so far?
With the 160-180 meter take-off run i just struggle to see how it can get off the deck with a decent payload. The carrier also has the ski jump angled at 14.3 degrees. Is this the steepest ski jump in the world? I think the UK has 12 degree jumps, originally they the first 2 ships were built with 7 degrees.
I’m guessing the steeper the ski jump the more air deck the aircraft has to help launch. Perhaps a 25 degree ski jump would be a good one to see!