ANOTHER milestone has been reached in the multi-million investment at British Aerospace's Samlesbury factory to gear it up for Eurofighter production.

A 14 tonne, 11.5 metre high column has been installed ready to support a new £7.5 million drilling machine in Four Shed at the site.

The computer controlled machine will be used to automatically drill a thousand holes in each Eurofighter front fuselage and is the first of six being installed in the site as part of an investment of around £35 million.

"This work was previously done by hand," said Jon Evans, process integration manager at the site

"This machine will give us the facility to produce one of the most accurate load bearing panels on any modern aircraft.

"Since Eurofighter is at the forefront of technology it must be produced using manufacturing techniques which are significantly different to those used on current aircraft."

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