The UK's Ministry of Defence has signed a contract worth £200 million for high velocity missiles from Shorts Missile Systems in Belfast.

The deal for the company's Starstreak missile should safeguard more than 700 jobs.

The deal was announced in a House of Commons written reply on Thursday by the junior defence minister Peter Kilfoyle.

Under the contract, signed by the Defence Procurement Agency, Shorts will provide the missiles for the British Army, Mr Kilfoyle said.

Starstreak first entered service with the army in 1997 as a front line defence systsm against attack from aircraft and helicopters.

Successful system

Today's contract for further missiles will be seen as an endorsement of the system's success.

The deal has been welcomed by Shorts as a vote of confidence and the firm says it will also help in its plans to export the system to friendly countries.

Managing Director of Shorts Missiles, Terry Stone said: "It keeps the core of our people, particularly in the manufacturing sector, involved in this programme for the next five or six years, without any other exports."

He added: "We are absolutely delighted that they have shown the confidence in the product and the company."

Shorts Missiles Sytems is a joint venture between Shorts and the French defence company Thomson CSF.

Manufacture is based in the Castlereagh area of Greater Belfast and employs around 550 people with another 170 working for its network of subcontractors.