On Thursday I welcomed the Defence Secretary, the Rt Hon Michael Fallon MP, to Rochester to visit some two of our defence and aerospace companies based at Rochester Airport, BAE Systems and Aeromet International.
As ever, I am always thrilled to show off some of our local sites that are doing so much for our local economy and national innovation. These companies also make considerable efforts to encourage our young people into science and engineering, with BAE Systems taking on twelve new apprentices a year, for example.
While many are familiar with BAE Systems, which has long been one of our major defence, security and aerospace companies, Aeromet specialises in making aluminium plane parts and up to 65% of its products are exported to EU countries such as France and Germany.
While at the BAE site, both I and the Defence Secretary were introduced to some of the company’s most cutting edge technology such as their Striker® II helmet-mounted display. On another visit I was also able to have a go at flying in their fast jet simulator. While being a lot of fun to test out some of this incredible kit, it is also assuring to see how much investment and local skills are going into such astounding projects. It is also fantastic to realise that much of this technology is both designed and manufactured here at the Rochester site before being directly fitted to our nation’s RAF Typhoon fleet.
The importance of BAE System’s and Aeromet’s work continues to be of great importance to our area and the country as whole. They trade far and wide maintaining our reputation as a global leader for defence and aerospace technologies. It is therefore imperative for the correct environment for this to continue be preserved so that our local economy and employment can grow with them.