TODAY thousands of men and women will walk through the doors of BAE Systems to make military hardware for the global market.

These are the people involved in the construction and sale of the Hawk jet to India, a nuclear power on the brink of war with its neighbour Pakistan.

Union bosses at BAE Systems say "their people" have no problem with that fact and are only doing what the Government tells them to.

"If you work for a defence company you have to be prepared to service whoever the company is.

"Whether you like who that customer is or not, it is a political decision that gets made by the Government you elected, they decide who we should and shouldn't sell arms to," said John Quigley, a national officer for Amicus AEEU, the aerospace industry union and major representative for workers at BAE Systems' sites at Warton and Samlesbury near Preston.

But as tensions flare between India and Pakistan, BAE Systems are planning a £1billion deal to sell 66 Hawk jets to India, each with the capacity to be converted to fighter planes.

"The Hawk jets are sold as training aircraft and if you want to put missiles on them you can," a spokesman for the company said.

"India is likely to be one of our customers in the future," said Dave Potter, head of sales for the Fast Jet Trainer Hawk at BAE Systems Warton.

"We have made a proposal to the India Government and it is now up to them to decide."

Kevin Taylor, managing director of the Hawk project, added: "BAE Systems will continue to pursue orders for the Hawk trainer aircraft in accordance with UK Government policy."

In the Preston area ten thousand workers are employed at the two BAE Systems sites -- final assembly and testing points for the Hawk aircraft.

Union leaders have denied their 3,000 members in the Preston area have any problems with working for the company at such a sensitive time.

Mr Quigley said: "If enough of our members said they were unhappy we would have to take actions but we have had no feedback to that effect. Our point of view is that if the Government was agreeable to signing the necessary papers that allows that export of arms -- the Government approve it, so what is the problem?"

However, Mr Quigley said no contract has currently been signed, and says the jets that would be exported to India are only classed as training aircraft.

He claims Russia has recently supplied fighters to India, so the Hawks should not be used as war planes.

"For about three years BAE Systems has been expecting to sign the contract," Mr Quigley said. "But India is the biggest democracy in the world. If you can't deal to the largest democracy in the world, then who do you deal to?

"There is the argument that you could turn them into fighter aircraft. But the first delivery would be 2005 so it's highly unlikely that you could convert them into a fighter aircraft, and anyway, how many years would that take?

"If you want a fighter aircraft you are better to go and buy a fighter aircraft."

David Borrow, South Ribble MP and chairman of a cross-party Parliamentary group on the aerospace industry, said: "The Government are looking at each export on a case-by-case basis.

"We have had a good relationship with India in the past and there would be no reason for a ban on arms exports in normal circumstances.

"In the India and Pakistan case we have to look at whether we are selling arms to a situation where action is likely to be taken against a neighbour."

Tory MP for the Fylde, covering Warton, Michael Jack, added: "If there was actually a war, and if you were going to supply one side with weapons which could tip the balance, that wouldn't be a good time to do it."