Aerospace giant BAE Systems has secured an £80million contract to continue to service the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft's electric systems for air forces in the UK, Italy, Germany and Spain.

The new five-year deal will see the firm's Rochester-based facility service and repair key avionics equipment such as flight controls and helmet mounted displays.

Eurofighter is Europe's largest defence programme with 681 aircraft sold to nine nations.

Jim Whittington, senior project manager at BAE Systems in Rochester, explained: "BAE Systems’ avionics service and support team helps our customers ensure that Typhoon is ready to secure our skies and support the UK’s international allies 24/7, 365 days a year.

“The flexibility within these services will help increase our customers’ flying capability, whereby we are able to meet any additional service demands.”