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The space and defence business of Airbus is to cut more than 2,300 jobs before the end of 2021.

The firm said that 357 of those job losses would be in the UK, out of nearly 4,000 staff.

Airbus said a flat space market and postponed defence contracts were behind the cuts.

Airbus Defence and Space, which makes everything from fighter planes and drones to satellites, employs 34,000 staff - 13,000 of them in Germany.

Around a fifth of Airbus's overall revenues come from its defence business.

Out of the planned cuts, 829 jobs would go in Germany, 630 in Spain, 404 in France and 141 in other countries,

The head of the defence business, Dirk Hoke, said on Saturday that talks were about to start with labour representatives after setbacks with its A400M military transporter.

Recurring technical problems with the A400M led the German air force to refuse delivery of two of the aircraft last autumn.

The group has also taken a €1.2bn (£1bn) charge on the worsening sales outlook, with a German ban on defence exports to Saudi Arabia causing Airbus Defence and Space to lose a promising potential customer, Mr Hoke said.