Anduril’s $6.6bn wager on fixing America’s submarine bottleneck
A concept rendering showing Virginia-class submarine sections in production. (Photo: Anduril)
Anduril’s Arsenal-2 is a gamble on a brand-new yard and perfect timing, but with Virginia-class output stuck at 1.1 to 1.2 boats a year, it is a bet worth making.
Every submarine builder in America is trying to move faster. Anduril will start from scratch.
Anduril Industries, a defence technology company better known for autonomy and artificial intelligence (AI) than for hulls, has committed US$3.7 billion of private capital to Arsenal-2, a “software-defined shipyard” at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County, Maryland.
The US Navy (USN) added a contract worth up to $2.9 billion, with payments tied to demonstrated production outcomes, taking the total to $6.6 billion. Under that structure, Anduril rather than the taxpayer carries most of the execution risk.
The announcement tests whether the Virginia-class programme can still
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