AN aerospace and defence firm operating from a North-East airport has issued another profits warning.

Cobham says it will book a £574m write-down and take a £150m hit from a US military contract.

The business provides training to the RAF from a base at Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA), where it employs about 50 people.

The profits warning is the company’s fifth in a little more than a year.

Officials say the write-down includes costs linked to its acquisition of communications equipment maker Aeroflex in 2014, adding an “onerous commercial arrangement” for an air-to-air refuelling tanker have resulted in soaring costs.

It will also take a £33m charge against other assets in the balance sheet.

As a result, the business expects full-year underlying trading profits to come in at £225m, down from the £245m it forecast in January.

Boss David Lockwood, who was drafted in last August following the departure of Bob Murphy, said 2016 had been an “incredibly turbulent and disappointing year”, and warned the next 12 months would remain challenging.

Cobham’s DTVA operations are known for use of aircraft that use equipment to act as targets for gun and missile firing.