British defence giant BAE Systems has won a £20 billion contract to build a new fleet of warships for Australia.
BAE will build nine Type 26 submarine hunter ships for the Royal Australian Navy under the terms of a 30-year contract.
The group saw off competition from Spain's Navantia and Italian firm Fincantieri to win the deal, which is part of a $200 billion Australian dollar spending programme by Canberra.
UK ministers are expected to trumpet the decision as a coup for Brexit Britain when an official government announcement is made, although the ships will be built in Australia.
It will come as welcome relief to Theresa May, who has had to deal recently with a public hammering from Airbus, BMW and business groups over her party's handling of Brexit.
The deal is the second major coup for BAE after the defence giant bagged a £150m tank contract with the US Marine Corps last week.
The deal will see BAE deliver an initial 30 "amphibious combat vehicles" with options for a total of 204 tanks, which could be worth up to £909m.
Earlier this year, it was announced that the UK Government will stump up £900m for BAE to press ahead with the second phase of construction for four nuclear-armed Dreadnought submarines.
