British arms manufacturer BAE Systems axed 3,000 jobs on Tuesday, mostly at its military aircraft division, and blamed reduced spending by cash-strapped governments that has slashed demand for fighter jets.

The news, which sparked outrage from trade unions, followed days of intense media speculation over impending job cuts at Britain's biggest defence company.

"Our customers are facing huge pressures on their defence budgets and affordability has become an increasing priority," BAE Systems chief executive Ian King said in a statement unveiling the "nearly 3,000" job losses.

"Our business needs to rise to this challenge to maintain its competitiveness and ensure its long-term future," King added.

The biggest number of job cuts will be in northern England at facilities in Brough, where 899 positions will be lost, and in Warton and Samlesbury. There will also be jobs shed at BAE's head office in Farnborough in the south, and at other sites dotted across Britain.

BAE has also begun a consultation about ending manufacturing at the Brough plant, which currently employs 1,300 workers.

Workers at the facilities spoke of being in "shock" and many said they were already looking for a new job, while others were described as being "heartbroken and tearful".

The London-listed group said its military aircraft unit had been hampered by a slowdown in orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35 combat jets.

"Some of our major programmes have seen significant changes. The four partner nations in the Typhoon programme have agreed to slow production rates to help ease their budget pressures," King said.

"Whilst this will help extend our production schedule and ensure the production line stays open until we receive anticipated export contracts, it does reduce the workload at a number of our sites."

The Eurofighter is a project which involves companies from Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

BAE added that it has also been hurt by painful budget cutbacks in the United States.

"Pressure on the US defence budget and top-level programme changes mean the anticipated increase in F-35 production rates will be slower than originally planned, again impacting on our expected workload," said King.

"To ensure we remain competitive, both in the UK and internationally, we need to reduce the overall costs of our businesses in line with our reduced workload.

He added: "We understand that this is a time of uncertainty for our employees and we are committed to working with them and their representatives to explore ways of mitigating the potential job losses."

British trade union Unite described the job losses as a "dark day" for domestic manufacturing.

"After days of speculation and rumours, our worst fears have been confirmed," said Unite official Ian Waddell.

"It's a dark day for thousands of skilled men and women across the country and it is a dark day for British manufacturing. BAE Systems have dealt a hammer blow to the UK defence industry and Unite is determined to fight the cuts.

"The government cannot sit on its hands and allow these highly skilled jobs to disappear."

The company has been hit hard by the coalition government's cuts to public expenditure, which include a plan to shrink its armed forces and scrap key assets like its flagship aircraft carrier.

British opposition leader Ed Miliband told his Labour party's annual conference on Tuesday that BAE Systems had been "sold down the river" by the coalition, which is cutting defence spending to slash a huge deficit.

However, the government added that everything would be done to help those affected by the announcement.

"This news from BAE Systems will be a serious knock to the individuals and communities affected," said Business Secretary Vince Cable.

"My officials and the BIS (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) local teams are already in touch with the company, local authorities and local enterprise partnerships to make sure that everything possible is done to help those affected at Brough, Warton, Samlesbury and other sites."

BAE Systems has a global workforce of 100,000 people, of which 40,000 are in Britain. It has customers across more than 100 countries and enjoyed annual sales of �22.4 billion ($34.8 billion, 25.7 billion euros) in 2010.

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