Anduril builds U.S. advanced submarine parts shipyard

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seonghan Lee = Silicon Valley defense tech startup Anduril announced on the 5th (local time) a plan to build a shipyard to make advanced submarine parts for the U.S. Navy.

According to the plan, Anduril will invest $3.7 billion directly and receive $2.9 billion in support from the Navy to build the 186,000 square meter 'Arsenal-2' shipyard at Sparrow's Point in Baltimore, Maryland.

Arsenal-2, which will be built at the steel mill site, will begin producing parts for the Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine around 2030.

President Donald Trump visited the Sparrows Point site and said, "This is where we will build the next generation of American submarines, including autonomous submarines, torpedo tubes, and key components for the quietest, most advanced Virginia-class attack submarine."

The Financial Times (FT) explained, “This plan comes as the Trump administration is pushing for reform of the defense procurement system to reduce dependence on existing defense companies and foster next-generation defense tech companies with AI technology,” adding, “It is the result of a reflection of the political world’s sense of crisis that it may fall behind China’s powerful naval shipbuilding capabilities.”

The U.S. Virginia-class submarine project, led by large defense companies General Dynamics and Huntington Ingles Industries, was planned to build more than two ships per year, but due to a lack of skills and a parts shortage caused by the monopoly of a few parts companies, it is only building one ship per year.

President Christian Bros. Anduril told reporters, “It is the insight of the Trump administration and the Navy that new production capacity is desperately needed,” and emphasized, “We must expand the maritime industry and the submarine manufacturing base.”

Sparrow's Point is a representative place that introduces physical AI to automate manufacturing systems, and Anduril's own software is used.

In existing shipyards, hardware such as cranes and welding determined production capacity, but here, processes such as design, process, and logistics are controlled with data and software, making it called a ‘software-defined shipyard.’

“By incorporating manufacturing innovations occurring in commercial aerospace and other private industries, we will introduce software and digital technologies and completely reimagine the way we do business,” Bros said.

FT evaluated that this project represents the latest step in Anduril's expansion into the maritime and defense industry.

In order to respond to China, Anduril announced plans to build a next-generation autonomous unmanned watercraft with Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and has been producing the autonomous unmanned submersible 'Ghost Shark' in Sydney, Australia since last year.

Anduril is also playing a key role in President Trump's Golden Dome missile defense initiative.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week appointed co-founder Palmer Luckey Anduril, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich as members of a task force reviewing America's future warfare, technology and defense procurement.