The logo of Rolls-Royce is pictured at the World Nuclear Exhibition (WNE), the trade fair event for the global nuclear community in Villepinte near Paris, 2018. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File PhotoLONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The eight-year deal will strengthen the Royal Navy's continuous at-sea deterrent - under which at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine patrols the seas at all times - while also boosting the AUKUS defence pact with the United States and Australia, Britain's ministry of defence said.
The new contract, called Unity, streamlines previous ones, incentivises cost-efficient production, and would support work on the Dreadnought class of nuclear submarines, it added.
"This investment in Britain's defence will deliver a long-term boost to British business, jobs and national security," Defence Secretary John Healey said in a statement.
"This deal ... will support high-skilled UK jobs who equip the thousands of submariners that keep us all safe," Healey added, ahead of a visit to Rolls-Royce's nuclear reactor production facility in Derby, central England.
The Unity contract is expected to create 1,000 jobs and safeguard 4,000 others, the government said.
(Reporting by Sachin RavikumarEditing by Mark Potter)
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