BAE Systems said it spent more than £500 million with Scottish suppliers in the last year as new figures revealed record orders.

The defence giant, which has also started work on a new assembly hall that is part of a £300m investment in Glasgow, said it comes as the war in Ukraine drives military spending higher.

The company upped its full-year earnings outlook and said it secured £21.1 billion of orders in the six months to June 30, taking its backlog of orders to a record high of £66.2bn.

In Scotland, it has also cut steel on HMS Birmingham, the fourth of the Royal Navy’s eight Type 26 frigates, completed all major units of the second vessel, HMS Cardiff, and continued work on the other two ships already in build, HMS Glasgow and HMS Belfast.

READ MORE: Steel cut on new Type 26 warship in Glasgow

The UK's biggest defence company has provided maintenance and support to the RAF’s Typhoon fleet at RAF Lossiemouth as it conducts "vital operational activity", and recruited almost 600 people in Scotland, including contingent hires, with plans to recruit “hundreds” more.

Shares in the FTSE 100 listed firm lifted on the news. The firm said governments worldwide were facing an "increasingly uncertain world", which is seeing them hike spending on military equipment.

BAE Systems posted an 11% rise in half-year sales to £12bn, while its underlying earnings rose by 10% to £1.3bn. Pre-tax profits for continuing operations jumped to £1.2 bn in the first half from £779 million a year earlier.

READ MORE: New Scottish warship factory will be 'one of UK’s largest buildings'

It announced an 11% increase in its interim dividend to 11.5p and in another boost for shareholders, the group unveiled another three-year share buyback programme worth £1.5bn.

Charles Woodburn, chief executive of BAE Systems, said: "Our global footprint, deep customer relationships and leading technologies enable us to effectively support the national security requirements and multi-domain ambitions of our Government customers in an increasingly uncertain world.

"With a record order backlog and good operational performance, we're well positioned to continue delivering sustained growth in the coming years."

READ MORE: HMS Glasgow moved onto barge for sea launch

Aarin Chiekrie, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said BAE Systems' prospects look positive amid soaring defence budgets globally.

He said: "A strong set of first-half results have shown that BAE occupies a key space in the defence market."

Shares in BAE Systems closed up 59.4p, or 6.36%, at 992.8p.