Specialist manufacturer Avon has received an order from the US military for nearly 167,000 of its protection mask systems.
The deal, worth $42m (£29.7m), has been secured under Melksham-based Avon’s 10-year sole-source contract with the US Department of Defense (DOD) for the M50 masks.
Avon said the order secured the anticipated volume of the mask’s sales to the DOD for its 2016 financial year. 
In the year to September 30, 2015, Avon supplied 240,000 of its M50 masks to the DOD.
The mask is designed to protect against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks.
Avon chief Executive Officer Rob Rennie said: “The continued fielding of our M50 mask to all US service personnel pursuant to the JSGPM (joint service general purpose mask) contract vehicle continues in line with our expectations. The M50 provides US troops with state of the art protection against CBRN (Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) threats.”
Avon said its interim results for the six months ended March 31, 2016, would be announced on May 4.
Avon, which also makes rubber products for the global dairy industry, achieved an 8% increase in revenues to £134.3m in the 12 months to September 30. Pre-tax profits came in at £19.8m as it chalked up a third successive year of strong growth.
