16/06/2014

Belfast Firm Wins £48m Missile Contract

Thales UK has secured a £48m deal for the design and manufacture of missiles for the UK Ministry of Defence.

The Belfast-based manufacturer, which also has operations in Crossgar, County Down, won the contract for the demonstration and manufacture of the Future Anti Surface Guided Weapon (Light) system.

First Minister Peter Robinson said: "I congratulate Thales Belfast on their success in winning this valuable contract to deliver highly innovative weapons capability to the Royal Navy. This contract is welcome news for the Northern Ireland economy as it will secure 60 high quality jobs within Thales Belfast and it will also provide additional opportunities for the supply chain.

"Over the past three decades Thales has become a world-renowned specialist in the Short Range Air Defence weapons segment of the defence market. The talents of Northern Ireland’s manufacturing and engineering labour force are now held in high esteem across the global aerospace and defence industries and today’s announcement is further evidence of this."

The system is designed to use the Thales Lightweight Multirole Missile (LMM). LMM is a lightweight, precision strike missile, which has been designed to be fired from a variety of land, sea and airborne tactical platforms.

(IT)

Related Northern Ireland News Stories
Click here for the latest headlines.

14 November 2024
New Defence Heritage Record Launched
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has welcomed the launch of a new Defence Heritage Record, a comprehensive resource detailing over 4,500 sites constructed across Northern Ireland in response to World War One and Two, as well as the Cold War.
08 May 2003
Thales win multi-million pound missile deal
Thales has won a multi-million contract to supply missiles to South Africa. The contract put at around £12.5 million is understood to involve the supply of the high-tech Starstreak air defence missiles for use South African defence forces.
21 May 2002
Missile contract to create 80 jobs in Belfast
Up to 80 jobs will be created following the government's decision to award Belfast-based defence contractor Thales Air Defence part of the contract to produce anti-armour missiles for the British and Swedish military.
15 January 2014
£100m Weapons Contract Announced
David Cameron has announced a weapons export contract worth over £100m for Thales Air Defence. Thales, based in Belfast and Crossgar, County Down, designs and manufactures missiles within the Thales Group.
25 November 2024
Visit Belfast Celebrates 25 Years of Transforming Tourism Landscape
Visit Belfast, the city's dedicated Destination Marketing and Management Organisation (DMMO), is celebrating a quarter-century of success.