A DEAL has been struck to deliver a new generation of surface-to-air missiles - made in Bolton - to the Polish military.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has hailed the agreement between Middlebrook-based MBDA and the Polish Armaments Group (PAG) for common anti-air modular missiles (CAMM).

Military officials say the move followed talks between Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier this month concerning accelerating defensive support to Ukraine.

Mr Wallace, who signed a co-operation agreement with Polish defence minister Mariusz Błaszczak last November, said: "Poland and the United Kingdom maintain a wide-ranging and important defence partnership and this move will benefit both countries, as well as the wider NATO alliance.

"This missile is at the forefront of threat detection and deterrence, with Poland’s short-eange air defence system seeing even greater alignment between our armed forces.

"Flying at supersonic speeds, CAMM missiles can destroy modern air threats including stealth aircraft and high-speed missiles."

The missiles are armed with advanced active radar seekers and can negotiate the harshest of weather conditions and the heaviest electronic jamming.

In future both the UK's Sky Sabre and the Polish Narew air defence systems will use the same missiles and launchers.

There are also plans to share the same technologies for the production of further ground-based air defence systems in Poland

An interim capability contract was inked by Adrian Monks, MBDA's sales director, and Sebastian Chwalek, PAG's chief executive, in Warsaw earlier this week.

Chris Allam, MBDA's managing director for the UK, added: "We are proud to be part of such an important programme for the protection of Polish skies together with our Polish partners from the Polish Armaments Group.

"This rapid initial Narew project demonstrates our agility to respond to urgent needs and develop sovereign system solutions in rapid timescales.

"We are already working to deliver the first systems to Poland as well as addressing the wider Narew programme of technology transfer and Polish manufacture."