The UK government contract awarded to aerospace and defence multinational Thales to build missiles in Northern Ireland for the Ukrainian front line is worth more than the group’s revenue across the entire UK last year, new figures show. On Sunday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the £1.6 billion (€1.93 billion) contract, which will lead to the creation of 200 new jobs in Belfast to help support the manufacture of 5,000 lightweight-multirole missiles (LMM) for Ukraine’s defence. It was the largest contract ever received by Thales in Northern Ireland. The deal was in line with the UK government’s commitment to dramatically…

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