Anduril Industries, Costa Mesa, Calif., plans to invest $3.7 billion in a new shipyard at Sparrows Point, Md., to manufacture components and large assemblies for the Navy’s Virginia-class submarine program.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend an event in Baltimore County on Oct. 6 to formally announce the project alongside Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Anduril executives and senior Navy and Pentagon officials.
The Navy has awarded the company a production contract worth up to $2.9 billion, bringing the combined value of the planned private investment and potential contract work to $6.6 billion. The contract covers submarine components rather than construction of the facility.
The more than 2 million-sq.-ft. shipyard, called Arsenal-2, will be built at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County, on the former Bethlehem Steel property. Anduril expects to begin hiring in 2029 and start operations in 2030. Permitting is expected to begin immediately, with construction following regulatory approvals.
The facility will supply General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, which jointly build Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines. Those yards will continue to handle final assembly, testing and delivery.
Anduril plans to start with components such as torpedo tubes before expanding into larger assemblies as it meets Navy certification and safety requirements. The company has begun prototyping torpedo tubes in California and plans to transfer that work to Maryland when Arsenal-2 comes online.
The longer-term plan includes manufacturing submarine bow and stern sections, known as super modules, that would be transported by water to Electric Boat in Connecticut and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
The additional manufacturing capacity is intended to relieve production bottlenecks and allow more submarine construction work to proceed simultaneously across the supplier base.
Anduril describes Arsenal-2 as a “software-defined shipyard,” applying software, modern factory design and manufacturing techniques to submarine production. Chris Brose, the company’s president and chief strategy officer, said the approach would include dividing portions of the manufacturing process into smaller tasks that less experienced workers can perform.
“We’re going to approach how you build submarines differently,” Brose said. “We’re not getting involved in this to build submarines the exact same way that they have been built for decades.”
The company expects the project to create approximately 3,100 direct jobs and more than 11,000 indirect jobs.
Maryland and Baltimore County have committed to incentives worth up to 13% of Anduril’s anticipated private investment, according to Gov. Moore. The package would draw on existing economic development programs and new appropriations requiring state and county approval. Maryland also plans to invest in a workforce training center supporting the facility.
The project would return large-scale shipbuilding work to Sparrows Point, where Bethlehem Steel once built vessels for the U.S. military. The steel mill closed in 2012, and the property has since been redeveloped into the 3,300-acre Tradepoint Atlantic industrial and logistics complex. Anduril said it has secured a long-term lease at the site.
