Dark clouds are gathering over a significant chunk of Oxford Airport and unlike the weather, the near future is impossible to predict for the company at the centre of the impending storm.

Eurocopter employs 200 people at the Kidlington site and half of them could be at risk of redundancy, thanks to the Government having second thoughts about a £300m contract to refurbish its Puma helicopter fleet.

Directors at the company, based at Oxford Airport, say there is now a 50/50 chance of the contract to overhaul and upgrade 30 Pumas for the RAF being scrapped, despite work having already started.

Eurocopter’s director of government and public relations, Tim MacMahon, said: “We find it incomprehensible that this should even be put up for potential consultation. The forces in Afghanistan have a crying need for more helicopters and no-one else could do what we are doing in the same time.”

And not only are the Eurocopter workers — many of whom have an ex-military background — at risk but, as revealed in The Oxford Times in August, there is also a question mark over the future of RAF Benson, where the Pumas are based.

The MoD faces having its £36.9bn annual budget cut by between ten and 20 per cent as part of public spending cuts. The Strategic Defence and Security Review is due to be published next month.

A leaked report in August claimed the Puma fleet faced “deletion” with a new contract for 62 Lynx Widcats scrapped and the Navy and RAF Sea Kings phased out.

Mr MacMahon added: “We have had meetings with the defence strategy group at the highest level which has taken its recommendatons to the National Security Council, so we are in a critical phase.

“The Cabinet will then decide whether the programme sinks or swims.”

The problem for the Government is that £100m of the cash has already been spent on design work and buying materials. Under the terms of the contract, Eurocopter said, it would expect to be refunded from the public purse.

But nothing will be decided until next month and the Ministry of Defence is remaining tight-lipped while the review continues.

An MoD spokesman said: “The National Security Council is considering options for the future as part of the ongoing Strategic Defence and Security Review. Decisions will be announced in October and until then it would be inappropriate to comment on speculation.”

The Puma fleet — used to transport up to 12 troops at a time and extract them from hostile situations — has seen service in Belize, Northern Ireland and Iraq. However, the fleet is now 40 years old and in need of a major overhaul, including the installation of more powerful engines designed to cope with the heat and high altitude of Afghanistan.

Eurocopter won the contract a year ago. Work has now started on the first two Pumas and was intended to ramp up soon, with one helicopter arriving in Kidlington every three weeks.

The plan is to spend an average of £10m per helicopter, and for that they will be fitted with state-of-the-art technology within the original skin of the aircraft.

This technology includes an autopilot which will allow pilots to fly blind at night and in very dusty conditions known as “brown- out” — a breakthrough which Mr MacMahon describes as “a huge step forward”.

Suggestions that the Puma fleet could be axed have led to fears RAF Benson may be mothballed, sparking more job losses and causing a major blow for the local economy.

But again the Ministry of Defence has described speculation about the squadron’s future as “entirely unfounded” although Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron has admitted there are “difficult decisions to be made”.

And police budgets are also being scrutinised. Eurocopter directors also fear there will be wider implications, with force helicopters being grounded due to dwindling budgets.

Managing director Markus Steinke said: “We know we have done everything we can in the political background and as for the contract, money has been paid and we are on time.

“But if we hear the contract is not going ahead, we have still got time for lobbying.”

If the axe does fall, then Eurocopter — which has bases across Europe — will continue, with the Kidlington site remaining a key part of the operation, offering support services to clients involved in North Sea oil and gas operations and private individuals, including celebrities and sports stars.

However, it is clear that when the cuts in public-sector services come, they will have a significant impact on private firms such as Eurocopter.