The contract covers
the development, qualification and integration of the FASGW(L) system
– which comprises a five barrel launcher and a laser guidance
system – for the Agusta Westland AW159 Wildcat helicopter, and
provision of deployable test equipment.
FASGW(L) is designed to use Thales’s Lightweight Multirole Missile
(LMM). LMM is a precision strike missile that can be fir ed from a variety
of land, sea and airborne tactical platforms. It will provide the Royal
Navy with a versatile, rapidly - deployable and highly- effective capability
to defeat the threat from small ships and inshore attack craft.
The Minister made the announ cement during a visit to Thales’s
Belfast facility, where both LMM and the FASGW equipment will be manufactured.
This significant contract will sustain up to 60 jobs at the site and
will provide additional opportunities for the supply chain partners
in the UK and overseas.
Accompanied by Victor Chavez, CEO of Thales UK, and David Beatty, Vice
President of Advanced Weapon Systems for Thales UK, the Minister was
given a tour of the Belfast facility and a briefing on the technologies,
products and capabilities at the site.
Victor Chavez said, “Some 450 of Thales’s 7,500 UK workforce
are based at the Belfast site and we are proud that the company is an
important source of high - technology and highly - skilled employment
in the region. We are delighted with this award of the FASGW(L) contract
as it will deliver a leading-edge weapons capability to the Royal Navy
to defeat conventional and asymmetric threats.
“ Thales’s LMM is the first lightweight missile in the world
to be designed to integrate onto tactical air, lan d and naval platforms
and there is much global interest in the capabilities it can deliver.
This contract award will provide a great boost for our overseas prospects,
as it shows the trust that MOD UK has placed in Thales to deliver this
new advanced weapon system”.
