Prospect welcomes contract to support 1,000 jobs
Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) has been awarded £860 million subcontract for UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Mechanised Infantry Vehicle program.
By Graham Robson-Parker – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50055652
Prospect welcomes the news that Rheinmetall Landsysteme has awarded Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) a subcontract to manufacture more than 260 Boxer armoured vehicles for the UK MOD’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) programme. The Command and Special Carrier variants will be produced at RBSL’s facility in Telford, Shropshire.
RBSL was launched in July 2019 as a new, UK-based and independent joint venture business between BAE Systems and German defence firm, Rheinmetall. The latest contract will create and sustain over 200 skilled jobs in and around Telford, with the complete programme creating and sustaining more than 1,000 jobs nationally.
The award of this contract will also allow RBSL to provide work and training opportunities to more than 60 apprentices over the next five years, which is also anticipated to be replicated across the UK supply chain. In addition to this RBSL is making a £20 million investment in its Telford site to improve infrastructure, provide state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities with more than 260 Boxer vehicles to be produced.
Steven Roberts – Prospect Negotiation’s Officer said,
“Prospect has a proud tradition of representing and supporting members in the defence sector and we welcome the much needed investment for RBSL in Telford. I am sure this will also be welcome news for our members in RBSL and the wider community.
“Our workplace reps work closely with the company and to further demonstrate this we have recently signed a recognition agreement with RBSL to build on and strengthen the relationship with the company.
“As part of the RBSL joint venture, Prospect also has a good working relationship with BAE and their partners and this is often reflected in the wider defence sector’s ability to secure bids and work for UK workers as well as the wider British defence industry.”
