Anduril Plans $6.6 Billion Arsenal-2 Shipyard In Maryland To Build Virginia-Class Submarine Components
Anduril and the White House announced Arsenal-2, a Baltimore County shipyard for Virginia-class submarine parts backed by $6.6 billion, as the Navy struggles to reach its production goals for the class.
Anduril is setting up a new shipyard in Baltimore County, Md., to make parts for Virginia-class submarines, the company and the White House announced on Oct. 6, according to Breaking Defense. The facility, called Arsenal-2, carries a $6.6 billion investment: $3.7 billion in private capital and up to $2.9 billion from the Navy. The announcement is Anduril's first move into the supply chain of a major legacy defense program.
Anduril said the contract structure puts most of the execution risk on the company rather than the taxpayer, which it argued aligns incentives for on-time, high-quality submarine production.
General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII's Newport News Shipbuilding jointly build the Virginia-class. According to Anduril, Arsenal-2 is meant to produce "complex components and large scale assemblies" for the boats. The company said a further source of this work would let more construction happen in parallel across the industrial base and add to the capacity available to the program.
Kari Wilkinson, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, said in a statement that HII embraces efforts to strengthen industrial base capacity for submarine component manufacturing. She said the firm welcomes Anduril as a future subcomponent partner in speeding up deliveries to the fleet.
Anduril plans to start with basic modules such as torpedo tubes. It then intends to move on to more complex components, including entire sections of the submarines such as the bow.
The shipyard will be at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County. The 2 million-square-foot site is expected to begin initial operations in 2030. Permitting is to start immediately, and construction can begin once the company receives the necessary administrative approvals. Anduril expects the yard to create more than 3000 direct jobs and more than 11,000 indirect jobs.
In parallel, Anduril will begin making submarine parts at a facility in Orange County, Califa. It is a new 160,000-square-foot site that gives a two-year operational head start to develop and validate manufacturing methods, production workflows and quality systems before Arsenal-2 comes online.