The US Defence Department has ordered two deliveries of armoured vehicles from BAE Systems in a $715 million (£358 million) deal.

The order is for bomb and mine-resistant armoured vehicles and armoured lorries from BAE’s Armour Holdings division for the US Marines. The mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicles are used in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Defence Department has ordered 474 RG33 category-II armoured vehicles and 1,024 Caiman-based category-I lorries. BAE said that when these were added to existing orders it had orders for $2.95 billion of armoured vehicles.

The vehicles will be produced in Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.

Matt Riddle, vice-president of the wheeled-vehicle programme at BAE, said: “The proven track record of these RG33 vehicles validates BAE Systems’ commitment to providing protection for the men and women in uniform.” BAE bought Armour Holdings last year for $4.1 billion and since then has recorded a rise in orders because of the need for antiterrorist vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan. The company is the largest foreign contractor for the US Defence Department and about 60 per cent of BAE’s work now comes from the United States.

The department said yesterday that the armoured vehicles were “required to increase the survivability and mobility of troops operating in hazardous fire areas against known threats such as small arms fire, improvised explosive devices, and other explosive threats”.

The armoured lorries will act as ambulances and also be used for transporting supplies.

The vehicles are expected to start being delivered by August and will continue until the end of the year. Mr Riddle said that BAE’s facilities were working around the clock to produce the vehicles.

When BAE bought Armour, it said that it was searching for similar acquisitions.

In Britain BAE is waiting to hear a ruling on whether the decision by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to suspend its inquiry into alleged corruption between the company and the Saudi Government was legal. The SFO dropped its investigation after Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, said that the inquiry could have implications for national security if the Saudis stopped cooperating with terrorism intelligence.

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