Almost 100 jobs are to be axed at a company despite its involvement in a new multi-billion pound aircraft carrier contract.

Thales Sensors in Manor Royal, Crawley, has confirmed 96 staff must go as part of a restructuring programme.

The shock announcement comes after the company learnt a £2.7 billion aircraft carrier programme had been awarded to its parent company, international technology giant Thales.

Teams at the base had helped to design helicopters and radar equipment as part of the contract and the 2,000-strong work-force is still expected to have a role in the programme.

The contract, commissioned by the Ministry of Defence and BAE Systems two weeks ago, is one of the biggest defence programmes in Europe.

A spokesman said: "Regrettably there are 210 job losses across three sites, including 96 at Crawley and the rest at Leicester and Linlithgow, West Lothian, Scotland.

"We have now entered a consultation period, during which there will be various trade-offs, voluntary redundancies and the placement of employees in other areas of the company.

"Thales Sensors has implemented a restructuring of its businesses and processes. This will enhance the company's ability to grow in the defence markets both in the UK and overseas.

"The consultation period will take several weeks to complete, with an estimated effective date for redundancies of April 14.

"As is the policy within the Thales Group every effort will be made to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies and maximise placement with Thales companies in the UK and overseas."

Thales Sensors is one of three companies based in Crawley under the Thales' umbrella. The others are Thales Training and Simulation in Gatwick Road and Thales Communications in Newton Road.

Between them the companies design and manufacture defence, aerospace and information technology equipment.

Design teams from Thales Training and Simulation also played a part in the £2.7 billion package.

However, yesterday the company announced its own multi-million pound contract.

It has been chosen by Lufthansa Flight Training to supply an Airbus A320 flight simulator and a Boeing 747-400 simulator.

They will be installed in the new Lufthansa training centre outside Frankfurt airport in 2004.

A Thales spokesman said he could not reveal exactly how much the contract was worth but said it was "several million pounds".

Chairman and CEO of Thales Training and Simulation, Guy Delevacque, said: "This was a fiercely fought competition which makes this win, in the present highly competitive market, even more tremendous."