January 4, 2019 9.34 am This story is over 61 months old

New £250m MoD contract to support RAF Waddington

Services will be created at RAF Waddington

The Ministry of Defence has signed a £250million deal to support the RAF’s intelligence-gathering Shadow aircraft fleet, which will see services created at RAF Waddington.

This will make aircraft available for the new contract at RAF Waddington, the home of the Royal Air Force’s ISTAR fleet, which will secure 450 jobs across the UK.

Shadow, which is flown by 14 Squadron RAF, has been on operations above battlefields including Iraq and Afghanistan.

The newly-signed contract with Raytheon will sustain 200 jobs at the company’s facilities in Broughton, North Wales, as well as hundreds more across the UK supply chain.

The deal was announced by Defence Minister Stuart Andrew, who said: “This £250 million investment will ensure the UK retains its position as a global leader in battlefield intelligence gathering for UK troops and our NATO allies.”

The support contract will provide maintenance, airworthiness, design and supplier management services, as well as modification and integration work, which will allow Shadow to be upgraded in the future.

Under commitments laid out in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the UK is bringing a total of eight Shadow aircraft into RAF service.