NATO's free-swimming rescue vehicle successfully hooked up with the Norwegian submarine Uredd at a depth of 87 meters in Husnes Fjord, just south of Bergen, last month.

The system, jointly owned by France, Norway and the U.K., will provide an effective rescue capability with a whole life cost of £157 million over 30 years.

In the same trials the vehicle completed a deep dive to 610 meters to demonstrate its vast capability. While not all the deep water acceptance trials were completed in full, there were enough key events for the trials to be declared a success. Trials to include testing hatch operations at depth, angled 'mating' up to 60 degrees and the ability to recover the vehicle from rough seas will take place soon.

The system, based at Faslane on the Clyde Estuary in Scotland, will be maintained on 12 hours' notice to mobilize by road and air to a mother ship. It can rescue a crew from depths of 40 to 610 meters, at angles of up to 60 degrees and with internal pressures as high as 6 bar. Though it will be fully air portable, the rescue vessel will operate in sea state 6 (5-meter high waves) and remain on station in 10-meter seas.

The vehicle is powered by advanced sodium nickel batteries with higher power-to-weight/space ratio than traditional lead-acid batteries used in current rescue vehicles. A fiber-optic umbilical will provide video, communications and a data link to the command team on the mother ship. The vehicle, designed and built by Perry Slingsby System Ltd. of Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, England has a crew of two pilots and an attendant, can rescue 15 people at a time and will normally operate on a four-hour cycle.

For the trials last month, the system worked in concert with the mother ship Harstad, a Norwegian coastguard vessel that sailed from Glasgow on Jan. 26.

The system comfortably survived a rough passage to Cape Wrath, in Northern Scotland, which saw 74-knot winds, 10-meter seas and 30-degree pitching. All systems operated correctly on reaching Norway. Four full mating sequences were completed, with stores being passed through the hatch of the Norwegian submarine.

Further trials are planned over the next six months. Deployment next month from the MV Argonaute provided by the French Navy will include a two-day medical exercise to test transfer and to develop casualty handling and coordination of rescuees. Air portability trials, training and other exercises will continue this summer.

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