Business minister Anna Soubry confirmed additional funding for four aerospace projects on a visit to Coventry's Manufacturing Technology Centre where she opened the £60m Aerospace Research Centre and National Centre for Net Shape and Additive Manufacturing.

She also announced a £10m competition aimed at small businesses which is being run by Innovate UK.

Airbus, which has manufacturing operations in Broughton, Flintshire, will receive £7.2m to research ways to remove imperfections on wing surfaces.

Soubry said: "Government and industry are working together to keep Britain at the forefront of the global aerospace market. We are currently second only to the United States, but there is more to do and it is important that we continue to invest in R&D and develop ground-breaking technologies.

"Demand for new aircraft is at record levels - around 45,000 new aircraft and 40,000 helicopters are needed between now and 2032, worth over $5trn. This will provide billions of pounds of work to the UK economy given our leading capability in wings, engines, helicopters, advanced systems and services.

"Getting this right will deliver economic benefit through our large, mid-sized and small companies across the breadth of the country."

In addition to the Airbus funding, £5m is being given to a consortium led by Meggitt to research how pioneering technologies can be applied to aircraft factory production.

Spirit AeroSystems, the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and Aeromet will receive £6.4m to look into advanced automated assembly technologies, dubbed a 'factory of the future', and UTC Aerospace Systems working with AMRC has secured £4.4m.