Avon Protection has won a £38m tender from the Ministry of Defence to supply gas masks for the British Army amid accusations of chemical weapons use by Russia in Ukraine.
The four-year contract has five further 12-month option periods and continues the Wiltshire-based firm’s close work with government in supplying General Service Respirator’s, the typical protective masks used by UK soldiers.
Jos Sclater, chief executive at Avon Protection, said: “We are very proud to have won this competitive tender with the UK MoD and to continue supporting the UK’s objectives of providing the highest quality, most reliable and trusted protection equipment for the UK’s service men and women.”
In his statement to markets, Sclater noted recent deployments of chemical agents in Ukraine and in other conflicts.
The US last week accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by using the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukranian troops.
Sclater said the highest grade CBRN protection would be “critical” to the operational capability of soldiers fighting “in the evolving reality of near-peer, hybrid warfare.” CBRN refers to the malicious use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons and materials in warfare.
For Avon, the firm which supplied gas masks to soldiers during World War Two, the contract is strategically important.
“It demonstrates our continued technological leadership in CBRN respiratory protection and provides a strong foundation for our UK business over the medium and long term,” Sclater said.
“We look forward to continuing to provide the UK with a world-leading sovereign capability in CBRN protection from our facility in Melksham and developing new technologies which will provide unparalleled protection for those who defend our nation.”
Richard Bloomfield, head of electronic warfare and CBRN at MoD defence equipment and support, said: “We welcome the award of this contract, which will ensure continued support of the respiratory protection available to our armed forces.
“We have worked with Avon on supporting GSR for the past six years and look forward to continuing this relationship, offering high levels of protection to our troops across the world.”
Avon has its manufacturing headquarters in Melksham, Wiltshire, near the Hampton Park West Development. It employs more than 900 people across its five main locations in the UK and North America.
Shares are up more than 47 per cent in the year to date, boosted by a boom in global defence spending as conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine rages on.