The Eurofighter Typhoon consortium is touting the benefits of the plane's production to supply chain companies in Britain.

According to data disclosed, the Typhoon program spent more than $1.1 billion with British supply chain companies last year.

Nearly $368 million made its way to the East Midlands region, where supplier Selex is located, while an equal amount was spent in the country's South West region, with a Selex facility and Rolls-Royce taking the lion's share.

"From Leith in Scotland to Christchurch on the South Coast and Cambridge in the east right out to Tewkesbury in the South West, the programme is supporting highly-skilled people which make our supply chain tick," said Chris Boardman, BAE's Military Air and Information managing director.

"We recognize the value these people bring to our business and work closely with them to help them invest in their people and technology.

BAE Systems is a member of the consortium building the multi-role fighter, which is flown by Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and others. Also members of the consortium are the Airbus Group and Alenia Aermacchi.

CAE of Canada modernizing NATO flight simulators
Farnborough, England (UPI) Jul 16, 2013 –

Canadian simulator-based training systems company CAE is to conduct a major modernization of NATO's E-3A Sentry training devices.

The contract for the work was signed this week with the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Program Management Organization, or NAPMO, at the Farnborough International Airshow in Britain.

"The E-3A flight simulators help provide safe and cost-effective training for the 16 nations involved in the multi-national NATO E-3A Component," said Ian Bell, CAE's vice president and business leader — Europe. "CAE has supported the training of NATO E-3A aircrews for more than 30 years, and we're pleased to extend this support with another major modernization effort program for the E-3A training devices."

The E-3A is an early warning and command-and-control aircraft built by Boeing. They aircraft are in the process of upgrading with advanced avionics and other systems.

CAE said its work on the simulators will be completed by 2018.

The NATO E-3A flight deck simulator was designed and manufactured by CAE and entered service in 1982.

The value of the contract from NAPMO was not disclosed.