The Royal Navy is to be equipped with the world’s most advanced lightweight torpedo system.

Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach has announced that a £441 million contract for upgrading the Sting Ray lightweight torpedo has been awarded to BAE Systems, guaranteeing around 300 jobs across the UK.

The contract will see the Sting Ray torpedo uprated – the system is the main anti-submarine weapon carried by British surface warships and Royal Navy and RAF aircraft.

Lord Bach said: “This is excellent news, both for our armed forces and for the UK defence industry.

“The new, more advanced Sting Ray will provide the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force with a world-class anti-submarine capability and will be a key component of our maritime defence force.

“The programme, which will start delivery in 2006, will ensure that the Sting Ray torpedo remains operational well into the first quarter of the century.

“I am also pleased to announce that this contract will sustain around 300 jobs at BAE Systems and its suppliers and will keep this country at the forefront of torpedo technology.”

The newer version of the Sting Ray will be a much more capable weapon than the existing model.

It has been designed to attack modern enemy submarines in either deep oceans or shallower coastal waters, and carries a computer system on board which makes it faster, quieter and more manoeuvrable than the original torpedo.