The ships will not be built at the Clyde yards
|
BAE Systems' Clydeside shipyards have won a major contract to work on two new frigates for the Malaysian navy.
The work should help sustain hundreds of engineering and manufacturing jobs at its Scotstoun and Govan shipyards.
Engineering and design work on the vessels will take place in Scotland, though the vessels will be built and launched in Malaysia.
BAE said the project was a "highly significant" industrial partnership between the UK and Malaysia.
Industrial partnerships
Discussions on the design, specification and construction of the vessels have been under way for some years.
BAE's chief executive Mike Turner said global industrial partnerships like this were the way ahead for many parts of its business.
But while the deal is good news for the Clyde yards, some will be sorry the vessels are not actually going to be put together and launched there.
The Royal Malaysian Navy currently operates two frigates which were actually built at Scotstoun in the 1990s.
The news of the order came days after a new Royal Navy vessel was removed from a yard on Tyneside to Govan to be completed.
The Lyme Bay was being built at the Swan Hunter yard but the Ministry of Defence said delays and rising costs had been unacceptable.