Saudi jet order to save more than 200 jobs

More details on the £1.6bn deal awarded to BAE Systems today by Saudi Arabia.

The contract for 22 Hawk trainer jets secures manufacturing at BAE plants in Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire. It also means 218 jobs which had previously been earmarked for redundancy at the firm's base in Brough in East Yorkshire will now be saved.

BAE Systems announced last year it was planning to make 865 compulsory redundancies across the country. Since then, 118 have been offset by workers opting for voluntary redundancies - in addition to the 218 saved today.

At the time, the company had no orders for Hawk jets.

This order for the Royal Saudi Air Force secures the positions until 2015.

The Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer aircraft will be delivered from 2016.