EAST Lancashire MPs have reacted angrily to the retiring Chief of the Defence Staff questioning the need for the government to spend £18 billion buying 232 Eurofighters.

Nigel Evans and Peter Pike said the order was vital tothe Royal Air Force, jobs in the county and the strategic defence manufacturing capability of Britain.

Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, who quits as head of the UK military at the end of this week, made the comments in the light of the experience of the latest Gulf War.

He said that showed that bombers were more important than fighters in modern warfare and suggested that the Eurofighter order should be cut by up to 88 planes as a result of a "lessons learnt'' exercise.

One alternative was to convert some of the "Typhoon'' planes into ground attack aircraft.

Ribble Valley Tory Mr Evans reacted by demanding the Ministry of Defence announce the date for the second phase of production.

Burnley Labour MP Peter Pike said Sir Michael should have been more careful in what he said.

Both warned that cutting the order could cost jobs across Lancashire.

Mr Evans said: "I am today calling on Defence Ministers to give a date for the second phase of Eurofighter production to give the thousands of people at BAe Systems at Warton and Samlesbury and its suppliers across Lancashire security. We need to maintain a strategic defence manufacturing capacity and Eurofighter is vital to that and to the RAF's strategic needs."

Mr Pike said: "A lot of jobs not just at BAe but at small firms which supply it depend on the Eurofighter.''