The order comes on top of the $134.3 million contract, including spares, support and upgrades, announced in April 2009 for IST to supply 97 Wolfhounds.

The six-wheeled, armored Wolfhound can be used as a gun tractor as well as a logistics and supply vehicle to move ammunition, food and bulky stores for use in the construction of forward bases.

Firepower comes from a 7.62mm general-purpose machine gun and the vehicles are destined for British troops in Afghanistan.

The Wolfhound is a truck variant of the six-wheel drive Cougar, made by IST joint venture partner Force Protection in the United States but marketed in the United Kingdom as the Mastiff.

The Cougar is extensively used by the U.S. Army and U.S. Marines, as well as Canadian, Hungarian and Italian armies.

The four-wheel drive version of the Cougar/Wolfhound is known in the United Kingdom as the Ridgback and its heavier cousin is called a Buffalo.

The Mastiff 2 version, which has a 12.7mm heavy machine gun and carries eight people, entered U.K. service in June 2009. NP Aerospace also does the integration work on the Mastiff 2.

The Ministry of Defense also ordered 17 of the Buffalo route-clearance variants of the Ridgback from Force Protection.

IST, set up in early 2009, is a 300-employee, British-based joint venture between Force Protection, in Ladson, S.C., and NP Aerospace, based in Coventry, England.

Force Protection Advanced Solutions, Sula Systems, MIRA and Ricardo support IST with engineering and project management expertise.

NP Aerospace specializes in thermoset molding of composite materials for use in civilian, corporate and military protected vehicles, as well as supplying the aerospace and medical imaging market.

NP Aerospace has developed its CAMAC composite armor as a competitor to traditional metal armor plating.

CAMAC is a modular monocoque construction that provides high ballistic protection and has the strength to carry structural loads. The company said that chassis-to-armor connections, body recovery and refits are straightforward and effective repair schemes have been validated.

Peter Luff, minister for defense equipment, support and technology, said the recently elected coalition government of the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrats will honor the outgoing Labor administration's contractual commitments for military vehicles.

The April 2009 order for Wolfhounds was part of a major $525 million procurement of more than 400 vehicles. These included Husky vehicles from Navistar in the United States and Coyote machines from British manufacturer Supacat.

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