AN £800 million missile bid which would provide a major boost to the future of Matra BAe Dynamics plant in Lostock has finally been submitted to the Ministry of Defence.

Six companies which form part of a European consortium bidding for the Beyond Visual Range Air to Air Missile system (BVRAAM) have resubmitted a bid originally made two years ago.

A decision on the Meteor missile bid is expected by the end of the year and if successful it will be assembled at the Lostock plant and could mean securing up to 2,000 jobs throughout Europe into the next century.

The bid will be facing competition from America.

In a statement today the consortium said Meteor would provide a European solution to the requirements of the Eurofighter nations.

The Meteor is intended to be fitted to the Eurofighter in addition to the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air missile (ASRAAM) currently being developed by British Aerospace.

There have been a number of changes to Meteor in the revised bid including the addition of mid-mounted wings and a state-of-the-art jet system which the consortium partners see as essential in delivering the performance characteristics necessary.

They say the missile will have excellent export prospects and will boost those of Eurofighter resulting in substantial revenues for participating nations.

The consortium statement said: "The Meteor partners consider that Europe's future air weapons capability is dependent on this bid.

"The award of the contract would enable the highly skilled engineering force to be maintained, state-of-the-art technologies to be developed and competitiveness in the world market to be enhanced."

A spokesman for British Aerospace said: "It is the sort of order that we continually need to get to retain the workforce, but it is to early to say what the prospects are of increasing jobs."

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