Thales to open third facility in NI

Thales, the French-owned arms company, is to open a third facility in Northern Ireland, MLAs have been told.On Sunday Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that Thales would supply 5,000 of its lightweight multirole missiles (LMMs) to Ukraine in a deal worth up to £1.6bnThe company currently has a factory in east Belfast and a test facility in County Down.Thales managing director Nigel MacVean said the company was investing £100m in NI which would include opening at a third site.
The company is also planning to recruit 200 additional staff over the next two years.Speaking to a Stormont committee Mr MacVean said the LMMs were keeping Russian helicopters out of Ukraine and another Thales weapon, the Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (the NLAW), had kept Russian tanks out of Kyiv.Thales began delivering LMMs to Ukraine at the end of 2024 as part of an initial £162m contract for 650 of the missiles. The new order is in addition to that.The contract has been placed by the MoD's procurement arm Defence Equipment & Support on behalf of the Ukrainian Government.It will be funded by a loan underwritten by United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) after a deal signed last year to allow Ukraine to draw on £3.5bn worth of support from UKEF to spend with UK industry.

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