Six air missile systems to bolster national defence to be built in Bolton as part of £118m contract
Six air defence missile systems to bolster national defence are to be built in Greater Manchester.
A £118M contract, announced today with Bolton based MBDA will support up to 140 jobs. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is buying six new Land Ceptor air defence missile systems. It said the first live firing of the system so accurate it can ‘hit a tennis-ball sized object travelling twice the speed of sound’.
The systems will form part of Sky Sabre, a state-of-the-art defence system capable of intercepting cruise missiles, aircraft and drones. The sophisticated system can also simultaneously control the flight of 24 missiles, guiding them each to intercept separate targets at once.
The UK is doubling the number of deployable Sky Sabre systems operated by the armed forces in a drive to reinforce air defences. The MBDA site in Bolton recently announced an expansion of 700 new jobs.
Defence already supports 1,300 jobs there and around 5,000 more at other MBDA sites. Chris Allam, managing director MBDA UK, said: “We welcome this contract as it builds on our strategic partnership with the UK Ministry of Defence.
“Land Ceptor is an excellent example of the innovative capability that this partnership has produced and delivered to the British Army. Building these weapon systems has been a key part of our growth at our Bolton site and this contract helps us to sustain this expansion going forward.
“Manufacturing more launchers will provide more jobs and sustain many vital partners in our supply chain. Just as importantly, it will give the army the decisive military capability and increased scale needed in air defence.”
Minister for the Armed Forces, Luke Pollard, visited the Bolton plant at Bridgewater Avenue on Tuesday, August 19. He said: “The community here should be very proud of what happens these big warehouse-sized buildings because it not only creates good, well-paid jobs locally, what happens here keeps our country safe.
“That is something the people of Bolton should be very proud of. We are delivering on the strategic defence review by equipping our armed forces with state-of-the art equipment to help keep us safe.
“Doubling our deployable Sky Sabre capability will strengthen the UK’s air defences, protect UK forces abroad, and deter our adversaries. Through this investment we are supporting over 100 jobs across the UK, with more to come.”