AEROSPACE union leaders today warned they would ballot workers on strike action unless company bosses changed their stance on proposed job cuts.

Workers at BAE Systems held crisis talks after the firm announced it was considering "sizeable" job losses, believed to be around 2,000, including workers at its Samlesbury (pictured) and Warton sites.

Bosses blamed falling orders and lower than expected business from the Ministry of Defence, but today union leaders hit back saying the company had massive order books.

Yesterday BAE Systems delegates from across the country took part in a conference where the main issue on the agenda was the destruction of the manufacturing industry which delegates claim is caused by sending work abroad.

Neil Sheehan, BAE's Samlesbury union convenor and chairman of the BAE Systems delegates group, said: "We are going to have a meeting with the company to tell them we are sick of job losses when they have a massive order book.

"If they don't change their stance then we will have no option other than to ballot for industrial action."

At the conference delegates decided to launch a national campaign opposing the sending out of work abroad.

And union leaders plan to meet with the company next week to discuss the proposed job cuts and revised severance terms.

When the job cuts were announced last week, David Lewis, head of communications at Warton said no decisions had been made about the numbers of jobs to be axed, but both Lancashire sites would definitely be affected.

The group hoped the losses could be achieved through voluntary redundancies and transfer to other divisions.

Yesterday BAE Systems was given a boost after the government staked more then £1 billion towards a United States programme to develop a new generation of supersonic fighter jets -- parts of which could be manufactured at the company's Warton site.

A year ago the company announed it wished to cut the Lancashire workforce by 880 staff as part of a package of 2,200 redundancies nationwide.

Since then 471 people have taken voluntary redundancy and a further 157 applications are under consideration.