GWENT's military sector jobs have been secured after today's announcement that the Atlas consortium has been chosen as preferred bidder for a 5bn government IT contract.

Atlas is led by EDS and Fujitsu Services, but Gwent is strongly represented through partner companies Cogent Defence and Security Networks, and General Dynamics.

Cogent - which has recently taken the name of its EADS parent - employs around 730 people at two Newport sites.

General Dynamics employs 450 at Oakdale.

Both firms said they were delighted by the news and said that it would secure the futures of their workforces for years to come.

The contract is called the Defence Information Infrastructure project (DII). It will create a unified computer system linking 200,000 army, navy and airforce personnel with 100,000 civil servants. The system will cover everything from pay and pensions to battlefield communications.

The government announcement of the award was made by Lord Bach, minister for defence procurement.

Responding on behalf of the Atlas consortium, Graham Lay of EDS said: "We are proud to have been selected as the preferred bidder for DII which is one of the most exciting and demanding single IT infrastructure projects ever undertaken.

"The MOD's award vindicates our decision to bring together a team that offers low risk, cashable benefits and assured delivery.

"Our commitment to the UK industrial base has enabled us to develop the best solution on challenging issues such as security and system performance."

It has been estimated that the contract win will lead to 2,000 new UK jobs. Several hundred of these will be in Wales in Gwent and also in Bridgend and St Asaph where Atlas partner Logica CMG is represented.