Sales, new orders and profits up at BAE Systems Air

The air division of BAE Systems, which employs 10,000 Lancashire workers, has reported a year of increased sales, order intake and profit.

The department is involved in developing future combat air and defence information systems and delivering support, maintenance and training to the Royal Air Force’s Typhoon, F-35 Lightning and Hawk fleets.

Full year sales increased from £20.9bn in 2020 to £21.3bn in 2021. This resulted in an increase in earnings before tax and interest from £2bn to £2.2bn. Meanwhile, the order intake also increased from £21bn to £21.5bn.

Highloghts of the year included securing a £250m deal for Tempest aircraft from the Ministry of Defence, increasing production of F-35 rear fuselage and completing 151 units, the start of work on the delivery of 38 Typhoon aircraft for Germany while continuing to deliver 24 Typhoon and nine Hawk aircraft for the state of Qatar, and securing a £220m contract to deliver advanced synthetic training for the Royal Air Force.

Earlier this year, BAE Systems published a report calculating that the organisations spends £70m through local suppliers, supporting 220 companies and 1,000 jobs.

Charles Woodburn, chief executive, said: "Our strong results reflect the outstanding efforts of our employees who have continued to adapt and work closely with our customers, suppliers and trades unions to deliver capabilities which keep nations and citizens safe.

"We are continuing to evolve our business, increasing our investments in advanced technologies to deliver differentiated solutions to meet our customers’ priorities.

"Our diverse portfolio, together with our focus on programme execution, cash generation and efficiencies, is helping us to navigate the challenging operating environment, meaning we are well positioned for sustained top line and margin growth in the coming years."

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