A "significant number" of skilled jobs will be supported by a multi-million-pound contract to upgrade Royal Navy torpedoes, according to the UK Government.
The Ministry of Defence's (MoD) £270 million deal with BAE Systems is to upgrade the Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes used by the country's submarines.
Ministers said the move will sustain the jobs of about 100 MoD staff based at Defence Munitions Beith in North Ayrshire.
Scotland Office Minister David Mundell said: "This is welcome news. It is a further statement of the UK Government's long-term commitment to the defence industry in Scotland and to our dedicated and talented workforce.
"This contract will support a significant number of skilled workers and their families as well as providing a substantial boost to the local economy in Ayrshire.
"The UK's defence industry is worth billions of pounds and generates economic benefits for communities right across Scotland, through jobs, contracts and supporting services.
"On the back of this contract I have absolutely no doubts that the workforce at MoD Beith will continue to excel in providing skills, expertise and support for the Royal Navy's activities across the globe."
Spearfish is described as one of the most powerful and advanced wire-guided torpedoes in the world.
The upgrade includes a new warhead, a change to the fuel system and full digitisation of the weapon.
They are carried by the Royal Navy's Astute, Vanguard and Trafalgar class submarines.
The awarding of the contract will also continue the UK's torpedo manufacturing capability at its Broad Oak facility in Portsmouth for another decade as well as creating 40 new skilled engineering jobs and supporting around 60 existing jobs based in the south coast city.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article