Gun contract to secure site jobs

Manufacture will now go on until 2012

About 400 jobs at a Cumbrian factory have been secured for another six months with a £71m order from the US government for guns.

The country's Department of Defense has placed an order for 62 more M777 Howitzers from BAE Systems.

The work will be done at sites in Barrow and America. The company said it would secure manufacturing until 2012.

The Cumbrian site will be responsible for most of the manufacture and assembly of the equipment.

Mike Sweeney, from BAE Systems, said: "We have got about 400 people working in the land sector at Barrow and what it means is we can extend production of the M777 for another six months and of course that is great news for jobs there.

"And what it all does is gives us a longer window of opportunity to win new work for the gun. Militaries around the world are very interested in it."