9:50am Tuesday 16th March 2010
DEFENCE firm BAE Systems pledged yesterday to reverse job cuts and create more positions at its Newcastle base, in a last-ditch bid to win a £4bn deal for armoured vehicles.
The company has 630 staff in Newcastle, but said it would scrap plans for 200 redundancies and bring employee numbers up to 800 if it landed the contract to build Scout vehicles for the British Army.
BAE intends to bring back to the UK manufacturing work originally intended to be carried out at Örnskoldsvik, in Sweden.
But the effort looks to have been in vain amid weekend reports that the MoD will name US firm General Dynamics as the winner of the initial deal.
General Dynamics has said it believes more than 10,500 jobs will be created or safeguarded for British-based companies in eight regions if it wins the deal.
A total of 1,300 vehicles will be provided under the contract, which will give British troops a much-needed replacement for the ageing Scimitar, with greatly improved protection, firepower and reconnaissance abilities.
The likely failure of BAE’s Scout bid comes after the loss of another major deal to build trucks for the US Army.
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