Babcock International has secured an £80 million contract to build new submarine missile launch silos for the Royal Navy.

The 22 tactical missile tube assemblies will be developed at the company's facilities in Rosyth in Fife and Bristol.

The scheme is part of the common missile compartment (CMC) project for the UK Successor and US Ohio Class replacement submarine programmes.

Around 150 jobs will be created in the projects first phase and work is expected to begin at the end of 2016.

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The contract was awarded by General Dynamics Electric Boat and completion is scheduled for the early 2020s.

Babcock Chief Executive Archie Bethel said: "We are delighted to be continuing to support these internationally significant programmes with our highly specialised and experienced teams and look forward to working closely with our customer as this programme continues to develop further over the coming years."

UK Defence Minister Harriett Baldwin added: "I am delighted that Babcock have secured this critically important project. This contract is a strong endorsement of our highly skilled and globally competitive defence industry and will secure around 150 jobs in Rosyth.  With Faslane set to be home of all the Royal Navy's submarines by 2020, this is further evidence of the benefits that defence brings to the economy and to Scotland."

(LM)