North firm's technology helps keep troops safe

Apr 2 2009 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal

WHEN US president Barack Obama announced plans to deploy an extra 4,000 troops to Afghanistan last week, one North East technology firm would have been listening more closely than most.

For Tyneside’s Parmley Technologies is experiencing rapid growth on the back of its multi-million pound contracts to supply cutting-edge electronic vehicle control systems to the US military for use in the Middle East.

The company has tripled the size of its headquarters to 12,000 sq ft by making a £1m move into a newly built premises on the Orion Business Park in North Shields and has almost doubled its workforce to around 30 in the last six months.

It is gearing up for ongoing expansion in the coming years and expects to become a £5m-a-year business, employing 50 people by 2014.

There are currently hundreds of vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan being used by the British and US military which are fitted with Parmley’s technology. The company makes electronic control panels for the ABV – a vehicle which can remove obstacles such as a burning car, dig trenches and clear minefields.

Its technology controls the mine-clearing tanks’ hydraulic systems and also supplies components for the British Army’s Titan and Trojan vehicles.

It is currently in the trial stage to develop a remote control system which would operate full-size military vehicles such as Humvees, meaning they could drive across dangerous terrain such as minefields.