On 15 August, PMB Defence announced a $25 million contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to continue the development of a new battery module for nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs).
The new module, using nickel zinc battery chemistry, has been in development since 2019 as a potential replacement for lead-acid backup batteries aboard Royal Navy (RN) SSNs. PMB Defence is already a supplier of lead-acid batteries for RN SSNs.
“The contract we announced is actually Phase 3b of a development process going back to 2019,” PMB Defence’s CEO Stephen Faulkner, explained to ADM.
Phase 3b includes the production of more battery modules for testing and evaluation. While the underlying chemistry is well understood, the overall system needs to undergo rounds of intensive testing before it can be qualified to outfit SSNs. PMB Defence hopes to qualify the system well before the end of the decade.
“It takes a long time to qualify systems for any submarine, especially an SSN,” Faulkner said.
While the initial focus is on getting the system ready for existing and future UK SSNs, PMB Defence is also eyeing Australia’s SSN-AUKUS submarines. If successful in getting either lead-acid or nickel zinc batteries onto Australian boats, it would be a return to form for the company, which was originally established in 1989 to supply lead-acid batteries for the Collins-class submarine.
Since then, PMB Defence has expanded into seven markets worldwide, offering three different battery technologies. The company supplies lead-acid batteries to Australia, Canada, the UK, and three undisclosed customers. In Sweden, PMB is partnering with Saab to build lithium-ion batteries, while in the UK, it is also developing nickel zinc batteries. Together, the seven countries represent a significant portion of the market that PMB Defence targets.
“We are unlikely to win a contract on cost, given our location and focus on optimum performance.” Faulkner explained.
Instead, PMB Defence focuses on the few dozen navies operating highly capable submarines that value quality products. While PMB Defence already serves seven of those navies, the US remains an exception - for now.
AUKUS and the company’s work with the UK MoD are seen as an opportunity to break into the US market. The US and UK routinely share information about advances in submarine technology. As a result, the US already has insights into PMB Defence’s capabilities via the company’s work with the RN. The desire for commonality and interchangeability between the US’s future SSN(X) submarines and SSN-AUKUS is another aspect of the opportunity.
At the same time, the additional export control requirements imposed by AUKUS aren’t an impediment to further expansion. This is because of the company’s focus on few dozen highly capable navies.
“The US market would more than double the size of our company. We expect that getting into the US market will be easier now due to the AUKUS agreement,” Faulkner concluded.