Yahoo Finance Lockheed slashes jobs after Warrior upgrade axed
Defence giant Lockheed Martin is cutting almost a fifth of the workforce at its Bedfordshire base after the Ministry of Defence abandoned an upgrade to its 759-strong fleet of Warrior armoured fighting vehicles.
The company said 158 of the 900 jobs at its Ampthill site will go as a “direct result” of the decision announced in the Defence in a Competitive Age command paper setting out UK military priorities which was released last month.
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Lockheed had been working on an upgrade for the Warrior for several years, a programme that involved fitting the vehicles with new guns and turrets.
The expected £1.3bn programme that was due to extend the Warrior’s service life by 15 years had run into trouble, with delays and spiralling costs despite it not going beyond the development stage.
Announcing the job cuts, Lockheed described the Warrior upgrade as a “major programme” for Ampthill.
The company said the decision came after a “detailed review of the workforce and workload at Ampthill”, adding that the cancellation would also affect jobs in the company’s supply chain.
About 2,000 UK jobs in other businesses feeding into Lockheed depend on the Warrior.
Lee Fellows, general manager at Ampthill, said: “Despite the need for this workforce reduction, we remain a strong business, with a very talented, dedicated team.
“This exercise will ensure that we maintain competitiveness by delivering affordable products and services to customers while positioning for future growth opportunities that will benefit the facility in the longer term.
“We remain committed to supporting impacted employees and providing whatever assistance we can during this difficult time.”
Ampthill is part of US defence group Lockheed’s missiles and fire control business division.
The company said the site would continue to support the British Army’s new Ajax armoured vehicle, which is being built by General Dynamics at its plant in Wales.
Staff at Ampthill will also continue to work on other classified special projects which are unaffected by the announcements contained in the command paper.
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