The U.S. Navy and defense technology company Anduril Industries plan to build a $6.6 billion facility in Baltimore County, Maryland, to manufacture components for Virginia-class attack submarines. Named Arsenal-2, the site is expected to begin initial operations in 2030. The project is intended to add production capacity as the Navy works to address delays in submarine construction.
Under the announced financing plan, private capital will provide $3.7 billion, while the Navy will contribute $2.9 billion. Anduril estimates the facility will create more than 3,000 direct jobs and support over 11,000 jobs overall. Those figures are company projections, and the full employment impact will depend on construction, hiring and production as the project develops over the coming years.
Virginia-class submarines are currently built by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding. Anduril says Arsenal-2 will initially produce smaller items, including torpedo tubes, before moving into larger assemblies and potentially full sections of submarines. The company says its role would supplement existing shipbuilders rather than replace their work on the vessels.
The proposal comes amid persistent difficulties in the Navy’s submarine industrial base. Shipbuilding programs have faced delivery delays and cost overruns, while officials have pointed to shortages of skilled labor and weaknesses in supply chains. A Government Accountability Office report cited late material deliveries and limited workforce capacity as factors behind lower deliveries of Virginia-class submarines.
To increase output, the Navy and industry have pursued shipyard upgrades, workforce measures and supply-chain investments. Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations, has said he expects industry to deliver two Virginia-class submarines annually by 2032. Arsenal-2 is one proposed addition to that broader effort; whether it helps meet the production goal will depend on the facility opening and expanding its manufacturing capacity at the Maryland site as planned.