The Fylde-based defence firm's chief executive, Mike Turner, and a senior colleague are understood to have been held as they arrived in America on business.

Both executives were released after being questioned and having documents and personal electronic equipment - including laptops and Blackberries - examined.

The US Department of Justice acted at Houston Airport in Texas, as part of its investigation into a £43bn arms deal between BAE and Saudi Arabia.

The company - which employs hundreds of staff at its base at Warton where the Eurofighter Typhoon is built - has been accused of making illegal payments to key officials from the regime - although it has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

There was outrage in December 2006 when the British Government announced that the Serious Fraud Office was dropping its probe into the al-Yamamah deal.

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The then-Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, and PM Tony Blair insisted continuing would have caused "serious damage" to UK-Saudi relations and put national security at risk.

However, the High Court has since ruled that the SFO acted unlawfully in abandoning the case, while the American authorities have pressed ahead.

According to one national newspaper, several US-based BAE executives had their homes raided at around the same time Mr Turner and his unnamed colleague were detained.

BAE Systems Inc, a subsidiary of UK-based parent BAE Systems Plc, has some 43,000 employees in the States.

British officials in Washington were reportedly informed of the incident on Monday when Mr Turner, a 59-year-old father of four, alerted military contacts at the Embassy.

One source said: "It was pretty heavy-handed. They had their laptops taken away and their documents photocopied."

Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said: "These reports illustrate that the investigation into alleged corruption over this arms deal is very far from closed.

"I approached the Home Secretary several months ago to ask whether the British government would co-operate with the Department of Justice, and I received an unhelpful and ambiguous answer.

"It is very clear that the US authorities will not let this go. If there is any question of illegality on American soil they will investigate fully, and they are putting the British government to shame."