BAE Systems’ air sector business is growing this year, boosted by new Typhoon contract awards, the defense company said on November 8, 2021.
In a trading update, the defense group highlighted higher Eurofighter Typhoon production revenues with the first jets for Qatar well into final assembly, along with higher Typhoon upgrade and support activity. The Typhoon is already in service for Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Austria, Oman and Saudi Arabia and production orders are underway for Germany, Kuwait and Qatar.
In recent months, BAE has won a contract from the Ministry of Defence worth approximately £220 million to deliver advanced synthetic training, including 10 simulators, for pilots training to fly the Typhoon at the Royal Air Force. It also won a contract for some £135 million to improve the Typhoon’s weapons capability from Eurofighter, the consortium representing the industrial partners of the program’s core nations.
BAE added that it is “moving towards” full-rate levels on F-35 rear fuselage assemblies, in keeping with its long-term planning assumptions of 150+ sets per year.
The company also noted increased defense spending from some of its major markets, including the United States and said the AUKUS announcement of cooperation between the US, Australia and the UK would be “strategically significant” for its business.
BAE stuck to its financial targets for 2021, citing “good operational performance” and saying it had managed to mitigate supply chain pressures so far.