INFORMATION

BAE Systems' role in the UK economy

21 Apr 2009

BAE Systems is helping to benefit the UK economy – we directly contributed £2.4 billion in GDP last year and make major contributions to employment, taxes, investment, research and development (R&D) and skills. Our activities also support other companies' businesses: last year, we spent over £3.5 billion with our UK suppliers and for every ten BAE Systems jobs, 13 more are created in the supply chain.

We pay nearly £500 million in taxes – almost £800 million jointly with our suppliers – and our exports are worth £4.1 billion. We also make a significant investment in research and development (R&D): our spending in this area is nearly £900 million, the third largest of the top 850 UK companies in 2006.

As one of the few remaining manufacturers in the UK, we play a central role in restoring the reputation of manufacturing as a foundation of economic development. We have a significant presence in the North West; about half our UK employees are based there, and this helps support the Government's regional development goals. We directly generate just under 3% of all knowledge-intensive private sector jobs in the region, and around 12% of employment in knowledge-intensive production sectors.

We're helping to support the supply chain in a number of ways, too – BAE Systems is an important part of the North West Aerospace Alliance's mentoring scheme, which is aimed at strengthening the region's supply chain, and we've also made our Lean Learning Academy courses and facilities available to small to medium enterprises to help them compete in the global marketplace.

Our supplier networks also benefit from a close working relationship that promotes innovation and enhances the national and global competitiveness of our industry. Our R&D spending makes us an important part of the ‘knowledge economy'; consumers as well as businesses benefit from the applications we develop. Our power control technology has both military applications, in the form of common modular power systems for military land vehicles, and civil applications in the form of HybriDrive® for commercial and transport vehicles.

We support vital skills development in the UK through the employment of graduates and apprentices, and we're also encouraging future generations of engineers through our Schools Roadshows. Our University Partnership Programme has assisted in a number of R&D efforts in subjects ranging from unmanned autonomous systems to disaster recovery management. Our work in this area helps encourage closer working between a number of different programmes and universities.

With export sales from the UK factored in, BAE Systems' business in the UK represents approximately 50% of our turnover. We're committed to supporting and developing the supply chain and skills in the UK, and this means that we're continuing to grow – and to benefit the UK economy.