More apprentices than ever before are being recruited by the defence company BAE Systems as demand for new lethal weaponry soars due to conflicts across the world.
The British company is taking on 2,700 recruits next year, more than doubling its intake among apprentices and graduates in the past five years.
But as BAE Systems is flooded with applications, Ian Muldowney, the chief operating officer, admitted the firm was having to sack up to two employees every year over concerns they could be recruited as spies by a foreign intelligence agency.
The company’s security process has to be watertight over fears countries such as Russia and China could find out military secrets by planting agents in crucial programmes.
