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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Jasper Jolly

Burnham urged to award £2.4bn military satellite contract to Airbus over US rival

Four people in pale blue overalls and blue or orange helmets stand on orange raised platforms to each side of a satellite in an early stage of construction. They are within a white industrial facility and the satellite is on a frame suspended from the ceiling.
Work on a satellite at the Airbus factory in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

One of the Labour party’s biggest union backers has called for Andy Burnham to award a £2.4bn military satellite contract to the European manufacturer Airbus rather than a US rival, Lockheed Martin, amid concerns that as many as 600 jobs may be at risk.

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said it would be a “massive mistake” to go for a US company over Airbus, which is headquartered in France but designs and builds satellites in Stevenage in Hertfordshire and Portsmouth in Hampshire.

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