Helsing opens its first UK Resilience Factory

Helsing has opened its new Resilience Factory in the UK as the company seeks to win elusive contracts from the UK MoD and meet new requirements for domestic production. However, budget deficits in the country’s Defence Equipment Plan, and a much anticipated Defence Investment Plan still leave an air of uncertainty.  

BLUF: 

• Helsing’s new Resilience Factory in Plymouth is designed to support the company’s production of autonomous systems like the SG-1 Fathom in the UK. 
• The UK has set a firm policy around defence procurement, explicitly focused on domestic companies rather than those outside the UK. 
• However, the UK is yet to make any real investment in defence and capability gaps are piling up. 
• Most are waiting for the Defence Investment Plan, which will reveal the priority investment areas for defence.

Helsing has opened its first UK-based Resilience Factory in Plymouth, following in the footsteps of the plant established in Germany in 2024 to produce the HX-2 strike drone. The ceremony opening the UK factory was held on November 19th, with opening remarks from Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey. 

“For too long our proud industrial heartlands like Plymouth saw jobs go away and not come back. We are changing that. In this new era of threat, the defence dividend from our record investment is measured in good jobs, thriving businesses, new skills for the British people,” he said, according to a Helsing press release. We will come back to this shortly. 

The Helsing facility measures 18,000 square feet and has already started production of the company’s SG-1 Fathom, an underwater glider that is designed to provide an autonomous sub-surface sensor network for anti-submarine warfare. The product and its attendant AI-suite, Lura, is being offered for the UK’s Project CABOT, which envisages a contractor-owned and operated sensor capability in the Atlantic. 

• Project CABOT, transforming ASW for the Royal Navy – Calibre Defence
• Helsing unveils Lura and SG-1 Fathom: AI for digital oceans – Calibre Defence 
• Helsing’s first UK Resilience Factory announced – Calibre Defence 

The Resilience Factory was announced back in July, and its rapid establishment marks the pace that Helsing has used to make its name. It is backed by Helsing’s £350 million investment to the UK under the Trinity House Agreement signed between Germany and the UK. Helsing is working with local institutions on the testing and development of the SG-1 at the nearby Turnchapel Wharf, as well as the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (BUTEC) in Scotland. 

Turnchapel Wharf has come to be the heart of much of the Royal Navy’s autonomous vessel development. It is where the Excalibur extra large uncrewed underwater vessel (XLUUV) was launched, and is also where ACUA Ocean launched its Pioneer uncrewed surface vessel, amongst others. Helsing also states that the Resilience Factory will be the company’s global maritime centre of excellence. This likely means it can support the company’s operations in the US, as well as France, and Germany. 

Helsing, Resilience Factories, and the Defence Investment Plan

Whilst most of Europe has dramatically increased its defence spending, British governments have been noticeably sheepish about making similar commitments. The reality is that the UK is running low on income, and running high on things that it needs to buy and invest in. This includes a vast array of capabilities that cannot be ignored. Things like Land Rover vehicles, air defence missiles, the lack of howitzers and artillery ammunition, through to Typhoon readiness and availability. The list is long and challenging and the total budget shortfall in 2023 was estimated to be £17 billion – which is more than the defence budget of Sweden, and close to that of the Netherlands. 

• British Defence and the Pink Mountain 
• Project NIGHTFALL: The UK’s search for tactical ballistic missiles

Put simply, the MoD’s equipment plan out to 2033 is expected to cost £305.5 billion, assuming they meet their budget targets and do not suffer any further inflationary shocks. This estimated cost increase is £46.3 billion more than the MoD allocated to the 2022-2032 Defence Equipment Plan, but more recent cost forecasts have increased that increase yet further to £65.7 billion, meaning that the new equipment plan exceeds the available budget by £16.9 billion. The Equipment Plan is not focused on small capabilities that a state can do without – it includes things like nuclear submarines, Type 26 ASW vessels, and F-35s, as well as ammunition factories and long-range missiles. Labour has yet to decide how that shortfall will be funded, or if the MoD will be forced to cancel some of its planned procurements. This is why the Secretary of State’s comment noted above could be considered as more political than anything else. There has been very little investment into the MoD since Labour took power, and it is not clear how far that investment will go if and when it comes.  

Calibre comment: Make it here, or lose out 

Regardless, most defence companies are awaiting the Defence Investment Plan, which will tell them where the government is going to put its money, and supposedly release budget for the MoD to get on with procurement. Until that happens, most projects are in limbo. But one thing that is very clear is the requirement for products to be made in the UK. This is a requirement that has grown out of the previous government and was known to some extent. However, James Gavin,  Deputy director of UK Defence Innovation and head of technology transition at the National Armaments Directorate, recently told a conference in London that, “I will not be funding something abroad which is bought off the shelf…full stop.” This more or less confirms what has been a growing position regarding the UK’s defence procurement. It also helps explain some recent announcements like Project NIGHTFALL, which aims to develop a UK-made ballistic missile, despite very few of the elements needed to do that being in place. 

For Helsing and others like Tekever, and Anduril UK, which started as a European company and moved to the UK, it makes a UK-based production facility essential. The Resilience Factory is Helsing’s first step in this direction, despite having maintained a significant product development capability in the UK for the past two years. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on November 21st, 2025. The lead image is of Helsing’s Resilience Factory in Plymouth. Credit: Helsing.