Negotiator Tony Hammond said the 3,000 job losses were a grim reminder that defence cutbacks were still filtering through to industry.

"When the country is crying out for highly skilled specialists to help kick some life into the economy, BAE is being forced to make job cuts because of the coalition's defence policies. The government is sleepwalking through a skills crisis of its own making."

In December 2010, BAE announced 1,400 redundancies because of government decisions in the strategic defence and security review to scrap the RAF Nimrod fleet and the early retirement of the Harrier jet. The latest cuts affect Typhoon and Hawk production at Brough, East Yorkshire, Samlesbury and Warton, in Lancashire. About 1,400 jobs are due to go at Samlesbury and Warton and a further 900 at Brough.

Most of the planned cuts will be in BAE's military aircraft division, which is being affected by a slowdown in orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft.