Rolls-Royce Submarines partners with INFINITY on advanced manufacturing

Rolls-Royce Submarines has partnered with INFINITY to develop full-scale prototypes of critical defence components and expand manufacturing infrastructure for naval nuclear propulsion programs. The initiative focuses on industrial automation, material efficiency, and sovereign production capacity across defence, aerospace, and energy sectors.

Operational Context and Industrial Objectives
Rolls-Royce Submarines designs and maintains the pressurized water reactors utilized throughout the Royal Navy submarine fleet, supporting both the Astute and Dreadnought construction programs alongside commitments under the AUKUS agreement. Increasing production throughput requires expanded fabrication capacity that does not disrupt ongoing assembly at the Raynesway site in Derby.

INFINITY is developing a 200-acre technology park in Derby to centralize engineering development. Co-locating digital engineering, component validation, and supply chain partners provides companies operating at advanced Technology Readiness Levels with direct access to testing facilities necessary for strictly regulated defence environments.

Technical Infrastructure and Process Capabilities
The partnership establishes dedicated capacity for advanced fabrication methods, specifically hot isostatic pressing, power beam welding, and additive manufacturing. These production processes reduce material consumption, accelerate development cycles, and maintain precise control over large-scale metallic structures intended for fission, fusion, and high-integrity naval systems.

Hot isostatic pressing enables complete internal consolidation of metallic powders, removing voids and ensuring uniform mechanical properties in complex geometries. Combined with high-energy power beam welding, the techniques minimize thermal distortion in thick-section joints relative to conventional arc welding. Additive manufacturing further allows rapid near-net-shape fabrication, reducing secondary machining requirements and raw stock lead times for primary circuit components.

Deployment and Sector Applications
The engineering facilities at the Derby site are structured to support both naval defence programs and civil nuclear initiatives, including the STEP prototype fusion project managed by UK Fusion Energy. Centralizing high-readiness production infrastructure allows component qualification to occur in parallel with baseline reactor operations.

The deployment provides repeatable fabrication pathways that mitigate supply chain bottlenecks for critical nuclear hardware.

Edited by Natania Lyngdoh, Induportals editor, with AI assistance.

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