Anduril and US Navy commit $6.6 billion to Baltimore submarine expansion
The defense tech company is turning a former steel mill site in Maryland into a hub for autonomous maritime manufacturing
Anduril and the US Navy plan to put $6.6 billion into expanding submarine production capacity at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County, Maryland.
The site used to make steel. It may soon make robots that swim.
What Anduril is building in Maryland
The planned Maryland facility is focused on autonomous maritime systems. That covers two product categories: unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles (XL-AUVs).
According to the announcement, the combined investment from Anduril and the Navy totals $6.6 billion. Anduril’s own share is projected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The project is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs in the region.
Anduril has signed a memorandum of understanding covering the projects at Tradepoint Atlantic. An MoU is a formal statement of intent, a step short of a final binding contract.
The Maryland site would strengthen Anduril’s USV production on the East Coast. The company is keeping its existing facilities in Australia and Rhode Island running alongside the new hub.
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Anduril’s maritime portfolio already includes the Dive-XL, which the US Navy has selected. It also includes the Ghost Shark XL-AUV program, chosen by Australian authorities.
A presidential stage for a defense factory
President Donald Trump is expected to headline an event at the site on October 6, 2026. The event is framed around expanding America’s defense industrial base.
Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf is set to use the occasion to outline the company’s new manufacturing push.
Tradepoint Atlantic itself has been under development as a logistics and manufacturing hub since 2014. A new container terminal at the site is expected to come online by late 2028.
How Anduril got here
Palmer Luckey founded Anduril in 2017. That makes the company less than a decade old, which is roughly the length of a single procurement cycle for some legacy weapons programs.
The company’s pitch has always been speed. It builds hardware and software in-house and sells finished products rather than waiting for the government to fund development from scratch.
What this means for the defense industry
There are risks worth tracking. An MoU is not a finished deal, and the $6.6 billion figure depends on both Anduril and the Navy following through on their commitments.
The adjacent container terminal is not expected until late 2028, so the full logistics picture at Tradepoint Atlantic will take time to come together.
The October 6 event is the next milestone to watch. Schimpf’s remarks may clarify the production timeline, the split of funding between Anduril and the Navy, and how quickly the first vessels could roll off the Baltimore line.