A £36 million investment contract has secured a number of highly skilled jobs in Comet country.

Missile developer MBDA has been awarded the contract by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) – securing 90 jobs between its bases in Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, and Bristol.

The company will use the money to test a land-based version of a currently-used air defence system.

The Future Local Area Air Defence System (FLAADS) is a ground based missile system that can travel at 1,000 metres per second and is able to simultaneously defend UK territories against a number of threats including jets or cruise missiles travelling at supersonic speeds.

Antoine Bouvier, chief executive officer of MBDA said: “This new contract further demonstrates the value of the partnership strategy that MBDA is advancing with its domestic customers.

“By extending the FLAADS programme to land applications, the British MOD is showing that MBDA continues to be its Complex Weapons company of choice and recognises its ingenuity in maximizing cost benefits through modularity and the re-use of existing technologies.”