LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain awarded missile makerMBDA an 184 million pound ($239 million) contract on Tuesday toequip the country's new F-35 fighter jets with heat-seekingair-to-air weaponry.
The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the dealwith MBDA, a company owned by Franco-German group Airbus, Britain's BAE Systems and Italy's LeonardoFinmeccanica, would sustain 400 jobs in Britain.
The Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM)contract is among the first significant contracts to be handedout by Britain's new government after Theresa May became primeminister last month following the country's vote to leave theEuropean Union.
Under the contract, MBDA will manufacture an additionalstockpile of an updated version of the weapon. The currentversion of ASRAAM is being used on RAF Typhoon and Tornadoaircraft on missions in Iraq and Syria.
Britain has ordered 138 Lockheed Martin F-35BLightning II stealth jets, some of which will fly from its twonew aircraft carriers.
($1 = 0.7711 pounds) (Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Jason Neely)