ARMS company BAE Systems has been accused of setting new “obscene” records in sales and profits this year while workers are “appalled” by management’s continued union-busting efforts and refusal to pay fair wages.

Financial results posted today by Europe’s largest military contractor showed a 12 per cent increase in profits from the previous year bringing them to £3.32 billion.

The firm broke earlier records in sales, with a 10 per cent jump to £30.66bn, and a new record in order backlogs, which stood at £83.6 billion at the end of December.

BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn hailed “a new era of defence spending, driven by escalating security challenges.”

But the Unite union hit back, branding the earnings “little short of obscene.”

General secretary Sharon Graham said: “The company is making billions from government contracts and yet refuses to pay our members what they are worth.

“This is completely unacceptable — without the skilled work of our members, the company doesn’t make money.

“BAE needs to give its workers a fair piece of the pie.”

Unite, Britain’s most prominent trade union in the aerospace and defence sector, explained that 2025 had been marked for staff by a below-inflation 3.6 per cent pay deal “imposed against their will.”

In the same year, BAE shareholders received £1.5bn in dividends.

CND general secretary Sophie Bolt told the Star the company’s record-breaking profits showed that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s “‘defence dividend’ is a lie.”

She said: “Communities like those in Barrow-in-Furness, dominated by this arms company employer, suffer from some of the highest levels of social deprivation in the country.

“And they have to take the iodine tablets in case of nuclear accidents in the shipyards. Arms dealers like BAE Systems profit from governments like Starmer’s that are whipping up international tensions to justify these huge increases in military spending.

“Meanwhile, people’s living standards and our public services continue to collapse.”

A Stop the War Coalition spokeswoman told the Star: “BAE’s profits are indeed obscene, but then all arms industry profits are obscene, making billions for shareholders from the manufacture of weapons of war and the slaughter of civilians.

“Stop the War of course condemns union-busting tactics by employers, but it’s disappointing that some unions are still so wedded to the defence industry for the provision of highly skilled jobs rather than campaigning for a just transition to good green jobs for their members.”

Amy Corcoran of the Peace Pledge Union added: “BAE Systems’ record earnings demonstrate their desire for profit whatever the cost.

“Arms companies hide behind the euphemistic terms ‘defence’ and ‘security’ while themselves driving international insecurity.

“BAE Systems’ record profits highlight the fact that arms companies profit from death and destruction, with global insecurity bolstering shareholders’ bank balances.

“Governments across the world, including the UK government, are choosing to sink ever-greater sums into the pockets of arms dealers, rather than investing public money into ensuring genuine security, both at home and internationally.”