Australia's military has ordered high mobility vehicles from the Supacat Group, a British company with a presence in the country.

The vehicle ordered by the Defense Material Organization is the Special Operations Vehicle -- Commando, which is based on the latest MK2 version of Supacat's HMT Extenda, and which can be converted to either a 4x4 or 6x6 configuration.

The vehicle features an open architecture for use of various levels of protection and a great variety of missions.

The order is for 89 vehicles and is worth about $97.6 million.

"This is the first of the MK2 HMT Extenda's to go into production and represents a significant increase in capability in terms of protection, transportability and firepower, while retaining the mobility and versatility for which the vehicle has become well known," said Nicholas Ames, managing director of the Supacat Group.

Supracat has partnered with Australian companies for the manufacture of vehicle components and assembly of the vehicles themselves.

"The award of this contract is another important stepping stone in the development of our presence in the Asia-Pacific market and is due recognition of the performance of Supacat and our partners in the Australian market to date," said Michael Halloran, managing director of Supacat Australia.