The US military has awarded a $3.4m contract to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston for face transplants for veterans who have survived war injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense is hoping that the Boston doctors will be able to complete face transplants on six to eight patients over the next 18 months.

In April, doctors at Brigham performed its first face transplant, which was the second carried out in the US, according to boston.com.