Thales Electronic Support Contract – the MoD has signed a ten year extension to an existing support contract which was started in 2003 is valued at £600m for servicing the electronics of Royal Navy fleet covering naval periscopes, sonars and surveillance gear.   It also secures some 530 skilled jobs in the UK.     The contract will apply to seventeen (17) systems, including the ASTUTE, TRAFALGAR and VANGUARD Class Submarines, as well as Type 45 Destroyers, the Type 23 Frigates and both the Hunt and Sandown Classes of Minecountermeasure Vessels.    The French owned Thales will provide worldwide support and repairs for the equipment from the Thales sites in Glasgow, Manchester, Somerset, and Crawley, as well as from the Royal Navy Naval bases.