Anduril to get $2.9 billion from US Navy for new shipyard making Virginia-class submarine components
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Publication time restored from the build log. . Updated: .
Companies built around autonomous systems are entering heavy shipbuilding and becoming part of the core US defense industrial base.
Defense startup Anduril, known for autonomous systems, will open the Arsenal-2 shipyard in Maryland, producing torpedo tubes, core modules and, in time, large hull sections. The project totals $6.6 billion, of which $3.7 billion is private capital and $2.9 billion comes from the Navy; the shipyard is scheduled to start operating in 2030 and, according to an administration representative, will add about 15% to Virginia-class submarine output. CNBC links the contract to the fact that Anduril founder Palmer Luckey joined a Pentagon working group on future weapons a few days earlier; NPR writes about ethical concerns over the new defense roles of Luckey and Elon Musk.