Trump announces $6.6 billion Anduril partnership to build Baltimore submarine production hub
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday a federal partnership with defense‑technology firm Anduril Industries to build a $6.6 billion submarine production facility at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County.
The new shipyard, called Arsenal 2, will occupy more than two million square feet at the former Bethlehem Steel site in Sparrows Point and will be financed with $3.7 billion of private capital from Anduril and a $2.9 billion contract from the U.S. Navy.
According to White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly, the project “delivers on President Trump’s promise to bolster America’s defense industrial base while revitalizing our manufacturing industry,” and is expected to create 3,100 direct jobs and roughly 11,000 indirect jobs nationwide, generating about $2 billion in annual economic output.
Anduril will initially focus on producing torpedo tubes, a component cited by senior officials as a current bottleneck in Virginia‑class submarine construction. The company plans to shift production of these tubes from its California facility to Arsenal 2, and eventually expand to larger modules such as bows and stern sections.
State officials praised the investment. Maryland Governor Wes Moore called the deal “the most historic manufacturing project in the state’s history,” noting the potential for high‑skill, well‑paid jobs. The Navy projects that the added capacity could provide roughly 9 million labor hours a year, a 15 percent increase that would move the fleet toward its goal of building two Virginia‑class attack submarines annually by the early 2030s.
Project leaders highlighted the facility’s reliance on software‑driven automation and digital manufacturing, a model intended to break down complex shipbuilding tasks into simpler, repeatable processes without the need for decades of shipyard apprenticeship.
Anduril founder Palmer Luckey emphasized the urgency, saying the United States “cannot meet our own demand, much less demand from allies,” and that the partnership represents “bold investment and decisive action.”
The initiative comes amid growing concerns that China’s expanding commercial shipbuilding capacity threatens U.S. naval dominance. Earlier this week, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a new autonomous warfare command, underscoring the administration’s focus on integrating advanced technology into defense production.
Construction of Arsenal 2 is slated to begin immediately, with the first phases of component production expected to start in 2028 and full‑scale operations targeted for 2030, pending certification and safety approvals required for nuclear‑submarine manufacturing.
