Jobs under threat at body armour firm NP Aerospace

More than 80 jobs could be lost at a Coventry-based firm which makes body armour and vehicles for the British Army, the Unite union said.

NP Aerospace said it had entered into a consultation period about potential redundancies "in the context of a reduction in defence spending".

The company has not said how many jobs could go.

Unite said nearly 320 are employed by the firm in Coventry and it was working with the company to minimise job cuts.

'Every effort'

The union said a 30-day consultation period ends on Friday and it expected the majority of job losses to be compulsory.

Alan Lewis, from Unite, said contracts had come to an end and the firm had told the union it had tried to get others, but had been unsuccessful.

He added: "They had been quite successful over a number of years supplying the MoD [Ministry of Defence], but now with the situation in terms of cuts, jobs need to go unfortunately."

In a statement, the company said: "In the context of a reduction in defence spending, NP Aerospace has entered into a consultation period with trade unions and employee representatives about potential redundancies.

"Every effort is being made to keep redundancies to a minimum and to mitigate the consequences, both on a personal level and to the business, to ensure that core skills and focus on class leading products are retained."