UK signs $227 million contract with Thales for new Martlet missiles

LONDON — The British Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Thales U.K. to procure “Martlet” missiles for replenishing the country’s stocks after donating hundreds of them to Ukraine.

UK Defense Equipment & Support, the defense ministry’s procurement arm, announced the new order, valued at $227 million, on the sidelines of the Farnborough International Airshow here.

“The lightweight multirole missiles [LMM] will equip the UK Armed Forces and we expect the deliveries to begin in 2027,” Maria Eagle, minister for defense procurement and industry, told reporters.

She declined to give the exact number of missiles ordered, due to sensitivity around revealing information about British munition stockpiles.

The Martlet missiles have been used both from the Ukrainian frontlines as well as in operations carried out by the British Navy in the Red Sea. According to a DE&S press release, the UK has previously gifted hundreds of them to Ukraine.

The London-supplied missiles have made a “significant contribution in terms of Ukraine’s ability to defend their homeland,” Andy Start, chief executive officer of DE&S told reporters. They were previously reported to have been used by the Ukrainian military against Russian Shahed kamikaze drones in an attack against the capital city last year.

Each weighs 13 kilograms (28,6 pounds) and can defend against airborne threats such as drones and helicopters as well as maritime targets in an air-to-ship role.

In 2021, these munitions were fired for the first time from a Wildcat helicopter in the Bay of Bengal, the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, during the deployment of the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group.

More recently, they were used in maritime missions in Operation Prosperity Guardian to help protect commercial shipping vessels from attacks carried out by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

“This is part of the UK’s commitment to continue to invest in the missile and maintain production, as well as of our wider munitions strategy,” Start said.