MANUFACTURING group Seaward has secured £1m-worth of business with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) providing equipment for use in military field hospitals.

The County Durham company, which makes specialist testing equipment, has won two orders from the MoD.

The orders are for general-purpose electrical safety testing equipment for checking everyday electrical items used by the Army, and electro-medical equipment.

The contracts were secured by competitive tender and follow field trial evaluation by the Army and the RAF at bases in the UK and Germany.

Paul Scott, head of sales for Seaward, said: "Our products were subjected to a thorough evaluation by the MoD and scored highly in terms of operating technology, reliability and ease of use.

"These are all vitally important factors in the markets in which we operate and this success augurs well for the successful exploitation of other international markets."

Seaward recently established Rigel Medical as a separate division to focus on biomedical engineering markets.

The new division has secured an order worth nearly £100,000 from a Dutch-based medical equipment company for the supply of specialist test instruments.

Seaward group managing director Rod Taylor said the new orders had contributed to a record six months for the group.

Mr Taylor said: "Earlier this year, we expanded our workforce to cope with demand for new products and further new jobs will again be created by these contract wins."

The Seaward group, which employs 140 staff, is based in Peterlee, but also has a factory in Sussex and a facility in Tampa, Florida.