Supacat opens new UK production facility in Devon

Supacat has opened a new production facility at its headquarters in Devon, England, naming the building after company co-founder Nick Jones.

The British vehicle manufacturer said Maj. Gen. Chris King cut the ribbon at the opening, which the company described as marking the launch of a facility expansion. Supacat did not disclose the size of the new building, its construction cost, or a timeline for when full production would begin there.

Supacat said the facility, called the Jones II Building, will expand its production capacity. The company said this is intended to speed up delivery of tactical vehicles to the British Army and other military customers, though it did not specify which vehicle programs would be built at the new site or provide production figures.

Supacat was founded in 1981 by Nick Jones and David Clayton at Dunkeswell Aerodrome in Devon, initially developing high-mobility all-terrain vehicles. The company’s first major program came during the 1982 Falklands War, when the Ministry of Defence issued an urgent requirement for lightweight transport vehicles capable of operating in rugged terrain. Supacat has since built vehicles including the Jackal, a wheeled reconnaissance and fire support platform used by the British Army and RAF Regiment, and the All Terrain Mobility Platform, in service with British airborne forces since 1988. Supacat has operated as part of SC Group since 2015, alongside sister companies SC Innovation, Proteum, and Blackhill Engineering.

Supacat and Babcock International Group opened a separate new production facility, the Raglan Building at Babcock’s Devonport site in Plymouth, in 2024 to build 70 Jackal 3 vehicles for the British Army under a single-source contract. That contract could expand to as many as 240 vehicles if the British Army exercises an option, according to Babcock. Under that arrangement, Babcock builds 62 of the vehicles at Devonport, while Supacat builds the remaining eight at its own facilities. The Jones II Building announced this week is located at Supacat’s headquarters, separate from the Devonport site.

Supacat has faced financial pressure on other parts of its business over the past year and a half. SC Group Chief Executive Nick Ames said in April 2025 that several major banks had declined to provide the company with commercial accounts or loans due to internal policies restricting defense-related lending, which he said made it “almost impossible” to fund investment in British manufacturing. Separately, the company’s existing Jackal support contract with the Ministry of Defence was projected, as of August 2025, to expire in early 2026 without renewal, a lapse that could have put up to 150 jobs at Supacat’s Derbyshire facility at risk. It is not known whether that contract has since been renewed.

Lizzie Jones, Supacat’s Operations Director, said earlier this year that the company had several ongoing projects planned for 2026, including customer-specific vehicle programs and continued development of new vehicle designs, in addition to the new production facility.