COBHAM, one of Dorset’s biggest employers, is to cut hundreds of jobs after a massive military contract was moved to Spain.

The devastating blow will see 320 Cobham employees – a third of the Christchurch workforce – lose their jobs following the shock announcement yesterday.

The redundancies are as a result of AirTanker moving work on the conversion of 10 Voyager aircraft to Spain.

The valuable Voyager program was only launched in September last year, alongside the creation of 100 new jobs.

Work will continue on the third and fourth planes until the end of this year but after that production will move to Spain.

Cobham’s Greg Caires, vice president, media relations said: “As a member of the AirTanker consortium, Cobham completely agrees with, and fully supports, the decision to have Airbus Military convert all remaining Voyager aircraft in Spain, as announced by AirTanker Ltd this morning.

“Co-locating aircraft engineers undertaking the conversion with the Airbus design office in Getafe greatly improves efficiency and shortens the supply chain.

“While this decision will result in significant redundancies at our Christchurch, UK facility, we agree that it is necessary to help ensure the programme’s continued success.

“Cobham will provide appropriate support and counselling to employees affected by this decision.”

Around 675 people are employed at the Bournemouth Airport site in Hurn.

Out of the 320 redundancies, 240 will be at Cobham’s Bournemouth Airport site and 80 will be contractors’ jobs.

The company say they have no plans to end their operations at Christchurch and it is too soon to tell if they will reduce their footprint at the site.

Cobham’s Wimborne operation remains unaffected.

A company statement added: “There have been no technical issues with the conversion process and there is no material financial impact to Cobham as a result of this change.”

The AirTanker consortium, which includes EADS, Cobham, Rolls-Royce, Babcock and France’s Thales, has a £10.5 billion deal to lease 14 modified Airbus A330 aircraft to the MoD as it looks to replace its ageing fleet.

It is understood that, because the aircraft are designed in Spain, it will be quicker and more efficient to convert them there too.