THOUSANDS of East Lancashire aerospace workers were today on tenterhooks waiting to find out who has won the battle for billions of pounds worth of defence contracts.

The Ministry of Defence is on the verge of announcing the winner of the £2 billion contract to supply the RAF with its new maritime patrol aircraft.

Industry sources have been strongly tipping the British Aerospace bid, backed by US giant Boeing, to upgrade 25 existing Nimrod aircraft with the latest equipment and new engines.

BAe's military aircraft division in Lancashire, which employs 12,000 at its Samlesbury and Warton sites, would take a large slice of the work if the Nimrod 2000 bid wins.

An estimated 2,500 jobs in Lancashire would be directly involved in the project to start delivering upgraded Nimrods from the year 2001 with around 1,200 at the Warton site alone.

And if Rolls-Royce was chosen to supply the engines for the Nimrod, its site at Barnoldswick could be involved in producing components.

"This would be very substantial business for British Aerospace and would retain core skills in Lancashire," said Martin Blaze, deputy project director.

"Apart from the British Aerospace sites in the North West other aerospace companies across the region which support them will benefit."

The other major competitor in the fight for the lucrative contract is the Orion 2000 consortium led by Lockheed Martin and GEC to supply a new version of its existing martime patrol aircraft.

Pendle Aeroform, of Burnley, is one of more than 100 companies in the UK which would be involved with work on the Orion.

The Hargher Clough factory would supply leading edges for the wings which would help protect more than 200 jobs at the site.

Maritime patrol aircraft are seen as an increasingly important part of a modern defence force used for anti-submarine surveillance, intelligence work and in search and rescue operations.

A Ministry of defence spokesman was today unable to confirm exactly when an announcement would be made.

It will be the first in a raft of huge contracts due to be awarded by the MoD within the next few weeks.

Next Thursday a decision is expected to reveal who has won the contract to supply the RAF with missiles in a £650 million deal.

Cleveland Guest Engineering, of Colne, and Pendle Aeroform would be heavily involved in production if their consortiums win the deal.

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