UK says Kuwait buys $489 million air defence system

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Britain said Kuwait agreed on Friday to buy a £370 million ($489 million) air defence system from a UK-based company which will help protect the Gulf state from drone attacks at a time of escalating conflict in the region.

• Kuwait is buying the system, which will incorporate jammers, radars and interceptors with an AI-enabled control centre, from London-headquartered MARSS, a company owned by Australia's EOS

• Britain has a long history of supplying Middle Eastern allies with weapons, technology and fighter jets. Finance minister John Healey has said he wants to use defence orders to help reindustrialise Britain and boost growth

• Yemen's civil war has in recent weeks rapidly emerged as the fiercest front in a wider regional conflagration triggered by the US and Israeli attack on Iran that started on February 28

• The deal will create 100 jobs in Britain in engineering and manufacturing roles at MARSS's production facility in Bristol, south west England

($1 = 0.7562 pounds)

(Reporting by Sarah Young; editing by William James)