SubSea Craft has announced a strategic investment for a 40% equity interest in LORILLION in a bid to strengthen the UK’s capability to design, industrialise and manufacture specialist battery systems for defence, marine and automotive sectors.
The investment, which aims to build on an existing technical relationship between the two companies, will combine LORILLION’s battery engineering experience with SubSea Craft’s advanced maritime platforms.
Elsewhere, the agreement will allow for the expansion of LORILLION’s engineering team to over 70 people, thereby accelerating the development of the company’s proprietary battery-management technology and supporting a new production facility in the Midlands.
SubSea Craft has stated that the partnership will be particularly important to the development of VICTA, the company’s advanced dual domain maritime platform intended to provide global special operations forces with a new generation of covert maritime insertion.
Through the investment, SubSea Craft will acquire closer control over a key element of the platform’s performance and supply chain whilst retaining the ability to adapt the system as technology and customer requirements evolve.
It is hoped that, by strengthening battery-system design, engineering and manufacturing capability within a controlled national supply chain, the partnership will help reduce dependence on overseas suppliers and services while advancing the further development of strategically important British technology.
Camilla Martin, Chief Executive Officer of SubSea Craft, said:Modern defence capability is only as resilient as the industrial base behind it. Our investment in LORILLION is about more than securing batteries.
It is about securing the engineering knowledge, manufacturing capability and freedom of action required to develop and sustain strategically important British technology. For VICTA, the battery is not a commodity component.
It is a mission-critical system. Having a UK design and manufacturing partner working directly alongside our engineering teams will allow us to accelerate development, maintain control of performance and strengthen the resilience of our supply chain.
