MBDA has been awarded a multi-million pound contract to support the UK Royal Air Force’s (RAF) advanced short-range air-to-air missile (ASRAAM).

Under the terms of the £40m contract, the company will provide support infrastructure and maintenance for the weapon over the next five years.

UK Defence Equipment, Support and Technology Minister Philip Dunne said: "ASRAAM continues to provide the RAF with crucial battle-winning capability for within-visual-range combat missions.

"This contract is more positive news for MBDA and the UK’s complex weapons sector.

"It will sustain a number of highly skilled jobs and is another example of the Ministry of Defence’s continuing commitment to British technology."

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"Under the terms of the £40m contract, the company will provide support infrastructure and maintenance for the weapon over the next five years."

Manufactured by MBDA UK, the AIM-132 ASRAAM is a high-speed, heat-seeking, air-to-air missile designed to counter intermittent target obscuration in cloud.

Armed with a Raytheon-Hughes infrared seeker, the missile is a rival to the US-built AIM-9X Sidewinder, and is intended for use in the within-visual-range and beyond-visual-range arenas.

Having entered service with the RAF in 1998, the missile is also mounted aboard the Royal Australian Air Force’s F/A-18 Hornets, and is also being integrated on the fifth-generation F-35 Lightning II aircraft.