BAE increases apprentice intake to new record

BAE Systems will be taking on a record 710 apprentices in 2015 as the company looks to expand its training programmes to help meet its growing workload.

The number of trainees is 142 higher than in 2014, itself a record. Two-thirds of the positions will be in engineering roles.

The FTSE 100 company is also hoping to use the training programme to bolster its supply chain, with 45 of the apprentices eventually going to work in companies that provide components used by the defence group. These places will be funded through the Government’s Employer Ownership Programme.

The apprentices will start in September 2015, with the largest group – some 339 – going to work on the company’s submarine programme. They will help produce the remaining five Astute-class attack submarines and developing the new “Successor” nuclear missile vessels. All but four of these apprentices will be based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria.

BAE’s military aircraft unit will take on 134 apprentices at sites in Warton, Preston, Brough in Yorkshire and Yeovil, Somerset, with a further 25 being trained for supplier companies in the North West.

The company’s maritime division will take on 157 apprentices in Glasgow and Portsmouth, with 20 apprentices being trained for engineering companies in the Solent.

The remaining 35 positions will be split between BAE’s electronics, cyber, combat vehicles, munitions, naval combat and radar units around the UK.

_{The largest number of the apprentice intake will work on BAE's submarine programmes}

Richard Hamer, education director at BAE, said: “The year-on-year increase in apprentice recruitment reflects the continued success of our training programmes in developing skilled and committed employees who are highly valued by the business.

“Our apprentices have a fantastic track record of reaching the highest leadership positions at BAE Systems with the managing director of our military aircraft business beginning his career as an apprentice.”

BAE currently has 33,000 UK employees and the company said it is attempting to increase the number of women it employs in engineering positions, including through the introduction of schemes targeting girls in local schools. In 2014, 17pc of BAE’s apprentice intake were women.

Earlier this month, BAE announced that it had won a contract worth up to $1.2bn to develop a new generation of armoured personnel carriers for the US Army to replace the M113 vehicles which date back to the Vietnam era.

_{BAE will build an initial 29 AMPVs, above, for the US military}

The company has agreed an engineering, manufacturing and development deal worth $383m to produce 29 Armoured Multi-Purpose Vehicles (AMPVs), with an option to extend this to 289 vehicles, taking the value to $1.2bn.

The new AMPV will use technology and systems BAE developed to produce the Bradley and AS109 armoured vehicles for the US military, meaning that they share some parts and therefore reduce development costs.

_{The M113 the AMPV replaces originally dates back to the Vietnam era}

BAE is working with DRS Technologies, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Air Methods Corporation, and Red River Army Depot on the AMPV and work is expected to begin immediately and will take place primarily at the company’s York, Pennsylvania, and Sterling Heights, Michigan, facilities.