SAAB contract for Thales UK

Thales UK, the electronics and services group, has signed a £10 million export contract with Saab Bofors Dynamics for Next Generation Light Antitank Weapon (NLAW) missile assembly. This follows a contract won by Saab Bofors Dynamics in December 2005 from the Swedish Materiel Administration for the NLAW system totalling £36.3 million.

Thales UK’s Belfast facility is Saab Bofors Dynamics’ principle UK partner in the programme to supply both the British and Swedish Armies with the NLAW system. The missiles will be assembled and tested in Northern Ireland in a high volume production line using similar facilities to those already used for other missile programmes such as Starstreak, Hellfire and VT1. Thales UK’s facility in Basingstoke will assemble two key parts of the missile; the centre electronic package and Optical Sensor. The UK contract for NLAW was signed in 2002.