British-made Typhoon jets production ‘essentially stopped’ as orders dry up

Workers at a British fighter jet factory have warned that production has "essentially stopped" amid fears that the Royal Air Force (RAF) will in future buy US-made aircraft instead.

The BAE Systems plant in Warton, near Preston, was until recently assembling Eurofighter Typhoon jets for Qatar following a £6bn order placed by the country seven years ago.

But with that work now winding up, and no similar orders outstanding, "essentially production has stopped for British-built Typhoon aircraft", union chiefs have warned.

The factory, which is part of the Eurofighter consortium, still makes front fuselages for jets ordered by Germany, Spain and other countries but these are sent abroad for final assembly of the aircraft in Europe.

At the same time, workers have been left rattled by reports that UK officials are currently leaning towards buying more F-35 stealth jets from US giant Lockheed Martin instead of ordering more Typhoons.

In a letter to MPs on the defence select committee, Steve McGuinness, a Unite executive council member, said: "As it stands, there are currently no Typhoons being final-assembled at Warton site and no orders for any future aircraft. Essentially production has stopped for British-built Typhoon aircraft.

"We are becoming increasingly concerned with reports that the Typhoons being retired from active RAF service are to be replaced with American built F-35A aircraft.

"This would be a hammer blow to the British aircraft industry and potentially could end the design, manufacture and assembly of fast jets in this country, seriously damaging our sovereign capability."

The warning comes after defence trade publication Janes reported that UK officials are "inclined to increase combat aviation forces through a follow-on buy of the Lockheed Martin F-35B rather than acquiring more Eurofighter Typhoons".

It quoted an official who said: "We have a foot in both [the F-35 and Eurofighter] camps, and for the RAF I very much see that the F-35 is where we are looking to add combat mass."

Publicly, ministers have remained tight-lipped about their future procurement plans while a strategic defence review rumbles on . That is not expected to conclude until the spring.

But Mr McGuiness said the Government should instead urgently "commit to ordering a squadron of 24 Typhoon jets", adding that the UK was currently the only member of the Eurofighter consortium with no new aircraft on order.

Germany said it was ordering an additional 20 Eurofighter jets in June, adding to 38 it already has in the pipeline, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Those will be assembled by Airbus on the Continent.

Britain should follow suit to bolster its own air force and retain skills needed to develop the next-generation "Tempest" fighter , also known as the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), Mr McGuinness argued.

He added: "A domestic order will not only fulfil a military requirement for the RAF in these unstable times but will also ensure that vital skills required to build the next-generation aircraft, are retained at Warton.

"Without a domestic order for Typhoon there will be no GCAP due to the loss of the skills necessary to build and fly aircraft.

"Furthermore we feel a domestic order will give other nations considering buying Typhoon off the UK the confidence to invest in the platform providing export revenue to the country and ensuring the longevity of our sites."

Typhoon jets have been produced at Warton in three tranches for more than 25 years, with a total of 160 ordered by the Royal Air Force in that time.

However, Britain's last order – in the third tranche – was placed in 2009 and no new aircraft have been ordered since. The last jet produced at Warton for the RAF was delivered in 2019.

On Wednesday, BAE Systems stressed that production was set to continue at Warton until at least the late 2020s.

However, it is understood the factory could also benefit from future orders by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Poland, among other potential buyers.

Turkey is thought to be lining up to place an order of 40 jets and on Wednesday a Turkish minister claimed the path to a deal had been cleared by the lifting of previous German objections.

If confirmed, that would almost certainly result in more jets being assembled at Warton.

A BAE spokesman said: "Typhoon manufacturing is currently underpinned by the orders from Qatar, Germany and Spain which will ensure continuity of production of major units beyond the late-2020s."