Two of Cumbria’s major employers are helping to manufacture 10,000 ventilators for the NHS in the battle against coronavirus – but have confirmed their county workforces are not involved in the effort.

Both BAE Systems and Siemens are part of the Ventilator Challenge UK consortium which received a Government order for the devices for those seriously ill with Covid 19.

The ventilators take over the body's breathing function by pushing air into the lungs, giving the patient time to fight the infection and recover.

The consortium – which also includes Rolls-Royce and Formula One team Red Bull Racing – is delivering an order that is broken down into Project Oyster and Project Penguin.

Project Oyster has involved making tweaks to an existing ventilator design by Oxfordshire-based firm Penlon in a bid to speed up the assembly process.

Project Penguin focuses in ramping up the production of the ParaPac ventilator by Luton-based Smiths Medical – the section of the order which BAE Systems is working on.

A spokesperson for BAE Systems said a team based at its Broad Oak site in Portsmouth would be involved in the project. They will provide project management and engineering expertise, along with integrated, tested sub-systems and components to save significant time during the assembly of the ventilators.

The spokesperson added: “We don’t currently anticipate that our Barrow team will be involved in this activity, but our employees across the company continue to look at other ways we can help the NHS at the nation at this difficult time.”

Siemens said it has a number of manufacturing and healthcare focused businesses within its group helping to rapidly increase the production of existing and approved ventilator designs.

Confirming that its Ulverston facility, which serves the subsea industry, was not involved, a spokesperson said: “We will be supporting with our competence and capacity in a number of related technology fields such as medical equipment, additive manufacturing, machining and Computer Aided Design (CAD) software and services.”

On receiving the order, the Ventilator Challenge UK consortium said it could produce more than the initial 10,000 order if needed.

They said they expected a "straightforward and very prompt regulatory sign-off" following a final audit and that production would start this week.

The consortium of businesses spanning the aerospace, automotive and medical sectors is being led by Dick Elsy, chief executive of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult – a group of manufacturing research centres in the UK.

He said the consortium brought together firms well used to solving problems, adding "this project is no different".

"They are working together with incredible determination and energy to scale up production of much-needed ventilators and combat a virus that is affecting people in many countries," he added.

"I am confident this consortium has the skills and tools to make a difference and save lives."

Elsewhere, vacuum-cleaner builder and engineering firm Dyson said ministers had asked it to produce thousands of the CoVent ventilators it has designed with The Technology Partnership (TTP).

The battery-operated device, which would attach to patients' beds, took about 10 days to work up but is yet to get regulatory approval.

Staffordshire-based construction equipment giant JCB said it had repurposed part of its dormant production line to start building the metal housing for the Dyson design.

In Cumbria, Forth Engineering – which has bases in Barrow, Maryport and Cleator Moor – is working with engineers from Sellafield Limited to build a prototype ventilator in its response to the ventilator SOS for the NHS.

The innovative company that operates in the nuclear, oil and gas and renewables sectors is also designing remotely operated robots to help in the fight against coronavirus.