'The fact that they have now been used in anger means that the demand for them is going through the roof because all of a sudden everybody wants them, ironically, so that they don’t have to use them'
Production at a weapons plant in Northern Ireland has doubled, and is set to double again following Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Starstreak was also used to protect the 2012 London Olympic Games and will be used again at the Paris 2024 Olympic this summer as a deterrent. “That’s almost the very definition of conventional deterrents, a good illustration of why people won’t fight you – because you’re prepared to have a fight, it’s a pretty good one,” he told the PA news agency.
However missiles are only sold to governments and under a licence secured from the UK for any goods for military use being exported from the UK.