Shadow Secretary for North Wales, Mark Isherwood AM, has welcomed this week’s announcement that the UK has been chosen by the F-35 Program Office to be a global repair hub providing maintenance, repair, overhaul and upgrade services for F-35 avionic and aircraft components, with the work centred at the UK Government-owned, Defence Electronics & Components Agency (DECA), based at MOD Sealand, in North East Wales.
Commenting on the announcement, Mr Isherwood said:
“This is fantastic news for North Wales. Over the lifetime of the programme, components for hundreds of European-based F-35 aircraft will be serviced and maintained in North Wales, generating millions of pounds and support thousands of jobs here.
“The North Wales maintenance site already supports around 400 jobs with thousands more in the wider supply chain - these will be sustained and grown over the coming years as a result of this news. MOD Sealand is a perfect location for maintenance work on this scale and I’m sure we will see further investment locally for the aerospace industry in Wales.”
The new global avionic and aircraft component repair service is expected to be operational from early 2018.