Reporting on defence issues in today’s papers includes articles on the new Hawk support contract with BAE and Babcock and updates on the Pakistan suicide bomb that killed at least 72 people.
Hawk support contracts
The FT, Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Independent and Daily Express include reports on the £372m Hawk contracts which will see BAE and Babcock servicing aircraft at Navy and RAF bases in North Wales, North and East Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire. Philip Dunne, Minister for Defence Procurement, is widely quoted saying that the contracts are a boost to British industry and many of the papers report that more than 600 jobs have been safeguarded.
Minister for Defence Procurement Philip Dunne said:
The Hawk is a world-class training aircraft for our future fast jet aircrew. Pilots currently flying Typhoons and Tornados with such precision targeting Daesh in Iraq and Syria to keep Britain safe first learnt their skills in the Hawk. It will also be used to train the pilots that will fly our new F-35s, some of the most advanced aircraft in the world.
The contracts to support these vital training aircraft are a boost to British industry, sustaining hundreds of jobs across the UK – all made possible by our growing Defence budget and our £178 billion investment in buying and maintaining the best possible kit for our Armed Forces.
Pakistan
The Guardian splashes on the Pakistan attacks as suspects are held and the Army is drafted in to lead the terror hunt. The paper reports that Pakistan's Army have arrested a 'number of suspected terrorists and facilitators' and seized a 'hude cache of arms and ammunition' during raids across Punjab province, a day after a suicide bomb killed at least 72 people and wounding at least 300.
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