MBDA has won a £28m contract by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to support the Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Storm Shadow long-range missile.
According to the contract, the company will supply regular maintenance and repair services of the weapon system integrated onto Tornado aircraft over the next five years.
UK Defence Minister Philip Dunne said: "We have committed around £95m to support Storm Shadow since it was brought into service in 2003.
"This is another example of how we are using our £178bn equipment fund and growing defence budget to deliver the best possible equipment to the armed forces."
The contract is expected to support 15 jobs in MBDA’s facilities in Bristol and Stevenage, with further jobs secured across the supply chain.
The Defence Munitions unit of the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation will take responsibility to store the missiles and undertake some of the maintenance across the UK.
The Storm Shadow is a precision cruise missile designed to target substantial buildings and structures, such as port facilities, control centres, bunkers, missile sites, airfields and bridges.
Besides Tornados, the weapon is also being integrated onto Typhoon aircraft.
In addition to the RAF, Storm Shadow missile is in service with the French and Italian air forces, and it has been previously used by the RAF in Iraq and Libya.
DE&S Chief of Materiel (Air) air marshal Julian Young said: "This contract is another milestone towards the accomplishment of the RAF’s Future Force 2020. It will maintain Storm Shadow ready for operational use and ensure the RAF has state-of-the-art capability to strike ground targets at long range."
Image: Storm Shadow cruise missile. Photo: courtesy of MBDA.
