SubSea Craft to Secure Battery Manufacturing & Defence Supply Chains

SubSea Craft has completed a multi-million-pound strategic investment for a 40% equity interest in LORILLION, aiming to strengthen the UK’s sovereign capability to design, industrialise, and manufacture specialist battery systems across the defence, marine, aerospace, and automotive sectors.

Building on an existing technical relationship between the two companies, the partnership combines LORILLION’s battery engineering expertise with SubSea Craft’s advanced maritime platforms. The agreement will enable LORILLION, which specialises in the rapid development of bespoke battery systems for demanding and highly regulated applications, to expand its engineering team to over 70 people, accelerate the development of its proprietary battery-management technology, and establish a new production facility in the Midlands.

The investment is particularly vital to the development of VICTA, SubSea Craft’s advanced dual-domain maritime platform engineered to provide global special operations forces with next-generation covert maritime insertion. Through this transaction, SubSea Craft gains closer control over a mission-critical subsystem and its supply chain, while retaining the flexibility to adapt the system as technology and customer requirements evolve. By embedding battery-system design, engineering, and manufacturing capability within a controlled national supply chain, the initiative helps reduce reliance on overseas suppliers while advancing 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.”

Richie Frost, CEO of LORILLION, added, “Our strategic partnership with SubSea Craft will accelerate the development of key battery technologies and a dedicated battery-pack manufacturing capability, enabling a vital end-to-end sovereign capability in the UK.

“This investment allows us to expand our engineering team, accelerate our proprietary technology and provide customers with a complete route from initial battery concept through design, development and testing, to certified production. It represents a major step forward for LORILLION and for the UK’s ability to develop advanced battery systems for defence, marine and other demanding applications.”