SUBMARINE rescue is to be brought into the 21st century - thanks to a North Yorkshire firm.

Perry Slingsby Systems Ltd, based at Kirbymoorside, built the current UK rescue vehicle LR5, which was dispatched to try to rescue the 118 crew members trapped on the Russian submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea in August 2000.

Now the Ryedale firm has been drafted in to help Rolls Royce create its replacement rescue vehicles, in a contract worth £47 million.

Rolls Royce was selected by the Ministry of Defence to provide the replacement rescue system, known as the NATO Submarine Rescue System, which will be introduced at the end of 2006.

The new system will include a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) - an unmanned craft which can locate a submarine in distress within 56 hours to check for signs of life. The ROV can take air quality measurements, provide emergency supplies to survivors and prepare the submarine for rescue by removing debris.

There will also be a three-man operated Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV), which can dive up to 600 metres below the sea to rescue up to 150 survivors in groups of 15.

When an incident occurs, the 27-tonne SRV will be flown out and fitted on to a ship based near the submarine's location. The ship will sail out to the submarine and deploy the SRV, which will dock with the submarine's escape hatch.

Perry Slingsby Systems will provide both the ROV and SRV for Rolls Royce.

Martin Anderson, Perry Slingsby's managing director, said: "We are very pleased to be supporting Rolls Royce. We are also very pleased to be involved in the replacement of a system which we supplied 25 years ago."

The firm has been designing and building pioneering technological equipment which can be sent to the depths of the ocean and remotely operated from above sea level since the late-1970s.

It is a descendant of the aviation company, Slingsby Aviation, set up by Fred Slingsby in the 1930s.

The company, which was formerly known as Slingsby Engineering, is now owned by French company Technip.

Updated: 10:09 Wednesday, June 16, 2004