New Royal Navy contract will help preserve 100 engineering jobs in Portsmouth

Up to 100 highly skilled engineering jobs in Portsmouth have been secured after BAE Systems has been awarded a £70m contract for the maintenance of Royal Navy ships, a news report in the local business media was recently able to reveal.

The agreement will run from July 2014 until the end of November 2016 and will handle the support, maintenance and upgrade of Type 45 Destroyers at the base and on operations in the UK and globally.

Minister for defence equipment, support and technology Philip Dunne said: "This £70m contract is good news for Portsmouth. It will protect the skills of around 100 expert engineers and makes clear that the future of the city’s ship support industry is bright.”

John Hudson, managing firector, Maritime at BAE Systems, added: "We are proud to continue our support to the Royal Navy fleet. Our objective is to ensure the ships are ready and available to be deployed and to continue that support while they are on operations around the world.

"This contract is an excellent example of industry and Government working collaboratively to achieve efficiency and effectivenes."