Thales cuts 470 jobs as it closes Bracknell site

Nearly 500 UK defence jobs were lost yesterday after the French electronics group Thales announced the closure of its military communications centre at Bracknell in Berkshire. The managing director of Thales' UK operations, Richard Moon, has also left the group.

The moves follow the loss of the £1.7bn Bowman contract to develop a battlefield communications system for the British Army. The order went instead to a Canadian-led consortium.

Thales warned at the time that the decision was likely to result in heavy job losses but the decision to close the Bracknell site completely still came as a surprise. The loss of the Bowman deal was a bitter blow to Thales, which took over Racal Electronics 18 months ago and was told by the Ministry of Defence it would be encouraged to become the "second force" in the UK defence industry in competition with BAE Systems.

Thales said that the closure of Bracknell by June next year would result in 470 job losses out of a total of 575 employed in its UK defence communications division. Alex Dorrian, the head of Thales UK naval systems division, will take overall responsibility for UK defence activities.

The group will now focus on winning a £2.7bn order to build two new aircraft carriers for the MoD. Reports yesterday suggested the MoD was likely to bring forward the announcement because of complaints from the rival bidder BAE about the costs of the long bidding process.