Unite blasts UK government over inaction after Typhoon production halted

Production of the Eurofighter Typhoon at BAE Systems’ Warton site in Lancashire has come to a standstill, prompting fierce criticism from the British union Unite. The halt in production follows a lack of new domestic or export orders for the combat aircraft, with skilled workers now redeployed to other BAE factories or RAF bases. 

Unite has renewed calls for the government to place a fourth tranche order of Typhoon fighters to fill the growing capability and industrial gap before the arrival of the sixth-generation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) fighter. 

“How has the government let this happen?” 

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham denounced the situation as a failure of government strategy.  

“Workers at BAE and across the whole UK defence and manufacturing industry will be looking at the ending of the Typhoon final assembly production at Warton and asking how a government promising to turn defence spending into ‘British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation’ could let it happen,” she said. 

Graham warned that failing to maintain production capacity and industrial readiness between programs threatens not only jobs but national security.  

“Instead of future planning and ensuring skilled workers are ready to produce the next generation of fighter jets, they still seem content to sit on their hands while those skills begin to wither and die.” 

She urged the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to place a new order for the latest T5-standard Typhoons to replace the aging RAF fleet, arguing that delay would result in “an act of national self-harm.” 

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Skills drain threatens GCAP ambitions 

The Warton site is expected to play a key role in GCAP, the UK-Italy-Japan program to develop a next-generation stealth fighter. However, Unite and industry figures have warned that relocating workers due to the Typhoon pause risks permanently losing critical skills. 

“The government has suggested that export orders could fill the gap until GCAP, but none have been forthcoming,” said Unite’s national officer for aerospace, Rhys McCarthy. “This is hardly surprising since the government doesn’t have enough faith in the plane to buy it itself, yet expects foreign countries to.” 

He called the decision “an act of self-sabotage” that threatens jobs in Lancashire and across the UK’s aerospace supply chain. 

Parliamentary warnings ignored 

The UK Parliament’s Defence Committee has already raised concerns over the industrial transition between Typhoon and GCAP.  

In a report published on January 14, 2025, it stated: “Retention of the existing Typhoon manufacturing workforce, made more challenging by dwindling production runs and the gap until full-scale production of Tempest is underway, must be a priority.” 

At a January 2024 hearing, Ian Waddell, General Secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, underlined the complexity and fragility of the aerospace supply chain.  

“It is not just the assembly line and the Warton units,” Waddell said. “There are small numbers of highly complex parts. Feeding the supply chain and keeping that work running through is really important if we are going to have a supply chain that can support Tempest.” 

With the Typhoon line now idle, Unite is calling on the MoD to take immediate action to prevent a long-term erosion of sovereign defence capabilities. The ministry has yet to respond to the union’s comments. The post Unite blasts UK government over inaction after Typhoon production halted appeared first on AeroTime.

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