Lockheed Martin has pulled up to 14 sub-contractors from the
development of the new National Air Traffic Service (NATS) system
at Swanwick, just months before its launch next January.
One of the sacked contractors told CW360.com that most of the
dismissed workers have been working on the project for the past
seven years.
Lockheed Martin has replaced the sub-contractors - who were
employed by Thales ATM - with its own staff.
Thales was working on Workstation Display Manager software, which
draws radar displays and presents flight information to air traffic
controllers, under a sub-contract with Lockheed Martin.
Thales' regional director, Richard Moore, told CW360.com: "It is
quite true that Lockheed Martin has advised us that they won't
require our support on that activity [the Swanwick project].
"Lockheed Martin has put its own staff in. But whatever happens,
this programme is coming to an end," he added.
The situation appears to have arisen from the fact that Thales is
Lockheed Martin's primary competitor in a bid for the contract to
carry out similar work in Prestwick, the site of the New Scottish
Centre (NSC) air traffic control site.
Prior to the privatisation of NATS earlier this year, Lockheed
Martin had been told it could have the contract for the NSC.
However, it is now being forced to put in a competitive tender.
Moores admitted that bidding for the NSC contract has influenced
the situation. "We recognised that because NATS didn't want
[Lockheed Martin] doing the contract. We won't be supporting them
as a sub-contractor," Moore said. "This may seem like bad news, but
in the long term NATS is going down the competitive road, which is
very positive."
Lockheed Martin refused to talk to CW360.com on the grounds that it
is forbidden to do so under its contract with NATS.