Overseas Merlin factories and Mediterranean logistics

Would a Dominion-built naval Spitfire still depend on British Merlin engines?

A serious overseas aircraft program would include a Rolls-Royce engine factory, producing engines and spares locally and easing a major Mediterranean and Far Eastern logistics constraint.

Building airframes overseas without engines would simply move the bottleneck, so the program also needs Merlin manufacturing. A plant in Australia or Ceylon could sustain fighters near theater and might attract Bristol-engine production too, changing both availability and future aircraft choices. Ceylon also offers existing naval facilities and defensible island geography, with no land approach for an invader. More aircraft and spares based there could make the Japanese Indian Ocean raid meet a much stronger air defence.