Boost to Belfast weapons plant after UK missiles commitment to Ukraine

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A Belfast weapons plant has received a significant boost through a UK commitment to Ukraine’s air defence capabilities.

The UK is to send 650 lightweight multirole missiles (LMM) to Ukraine in a £162 million commitment to the country’s defence against Russia, Defence Secretary John Healey is to say during a visit to Germany.

It comes following a bilateral meeting between Mr Healey and his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov in London earlier this week.

At that meeting, the Defence Secretary confirmed that £300 million worth of artillery ammunition will start to be delivered by the end of this year to support Ukraine’s war effort.

In keeping with the Government’s commitment to speed up deliveries of aid, the first batch of LMM missiles announced on Friday is also expected to be delivered by the end of this year.

The £162 million order is expected to energise the supply chain for the future.

The missiles are built by Thales at its Belfast plant.

Mr Healey said the new commitment “will give an important boost to Ukraine’s air defences and demonstrates our new Government’s commitment to stepping up support for Ukraine”.

“These new UK-made missiles will support Ukraine to defend its people, infrastructure, and territory from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal attacks,” he said.

The UK has already provided hundreds of LMM missiles to Ukraine for air defence against the Russian attack.   

Travelling at Mach 1.5 with a range of more than 6km, the LMM is described as highly versatile against a wide range of threats, including armoured personnel carriers, fast in-shore attack craft and unmanned drones.

A Thales spokesperson said: “As a strategic partner of UK Government, Thales is proud to be working with MoD (Ministry of Defence) to support defending democracy in Ukraine through the provision of our lightweight multirole missile, delivered from our Belfast site.

“Since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, UK MoD and Thales have worked in close collaboration to support the Ukrainian effort by delivering key air defence systems at pace.

“We are pleased that this contract is the first to be signed under Task Force Hirst, which has been established to deliver a deeper defence industrial partnership between the UK and Ukraine.”