COLUMBUS—Anduril Industries Inc. plans to build a large factory here to mass-produce autonomous vehicles for defense applications. It claims that the $1 billion Arsenal-1 complex wlll be a multi-building “hyperscale manufacturing facility [that] will redefine the scale and speed that autonomous systems and weapons can be produced for the United States….”
The 5-million-square-foot facility will be located adjacent to Rickenbacker Airport. Anduril hopes to ramp up production by the middle of next year.
“Arsenal-1 represents a step forward in how we manufacture the autonomous systems and weapons that our nation and our allies need to remain secure,” says Brian Schimpf, CEO of Anduril. “By harnessing a world-class workforce and a scalable, software-driven approach to manufacturing, Arsenal-1 will set the standard for how we respond to the challenges of the future fight. Ohio’s infrastructure and talent pool make it the ideal home for this historic effort to rebuild the arsenal of democracy.”
According to Schimpf, Arsenal-1 will be “a manufacturing facility that utilizes a common set of commercial tooling, machinery and processes for every type of autonomous vehicle that Anduril produces. Arsenal-1 provides maximum flexibility to reallocate the most critical manufacturing resources—people, capital, machines and materials—to meet new requirements, launch new products or scale production to meet surges in demand, indefinitely.”
The facility will operate on Arsenal OS, an integrated digital software platform that integrates the design, development and production stages for all Anduril products.
Anduril is also in the process of building an $8 million assembly plant in Quonset Point, RI, that will build its Dive-LD and Dive-XL family of autonomous underwater vehicles. The 100,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open later this year.
