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Anduril plans Arsenal-2, a $3.7B submarine-components shipyard at Sparrows Point, Maryland

Anduril says it will invest $3.7 billion in Arsenal-2, a 187-acre shipyard at Tradepoint Atlantic in Sparrows Point, Baltimore County, to make Virginia-class submarine components. The Navy contract is for up to $2.9 billion, and initial operations are expected in 2030. CTN reconciles the $6.6 billion and $3.7 billion figures, maps the site's history and sorts what is approved from what still needs votes.

By Cole Harlan · 11 Oct 2026 · 21 min

Aerial view of the Sparrows Point peninsula in Baltimore County, Maryland, looking north, photographed in June 2021: a flat, largely cleared waterfront site with large white warehouse roofs and docks, surrounded by Chesapeake Bay waters
The Sparrows Point peninsula, Baltimore County, Maryland, looking north, in June 2021. The photo shows the peninsula, not the planned Arsenal-2 facility. Photo: Jstuby / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Anduril Industries wants to put a submarine-parts shipyard on the old Bethlehem Steel peninsula at Sparrows Point. It is not in the city of Baltimore, and it is not a generic factory. The site is in Baltimore County, inside the Tradepoint Atlantic complex.

The Sparrows Point peninsula, Baltimore County, Maryland, looking north, in June 2021. The photo shows the peninsula, not the planned Arsenal-2 facility. Photo: Jstuby / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Anduril announced the project, called Arsenal-2, on October 6. The company says it will invest $3.7 billion of its own capital. It says the shipyard will make components and large assemblies for Virginia-class attack submarines. The work will go to General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls’ Newport News Shipbuilding, which keep final assembly.

Project figures below belong to Anduril or the officials who announced it, and are attributed that way. Nothing here has been built yet. Construction waits on approvals, and initial operations are expected in 2030.

Lone Cowry, CTN’s parent company, is DC based, so this one is close to home.

What Anduril and Maryland announced

Anduril’s newsroom release says Arsenal-2 will be built at Tradepoint Atlantic in Baltimore County, within the Sparrows Point complex. It will cover more than 2 million square feet on a 187-acre site. Anduril compares that to roughly 40 football fields.

The company describes a “software-defined shipyard.” The layout puts fabrication, assembly, testing and integration close together. The release lists high-bay assembly halls, adjacent fabrication areas, reconfigurable production lines and “a functional 1,200-foot graving dock.” A graving dock is a dry dock that can be pumped out so crews can work on a hull.

ArsenalOS is Anduril’s industrial software platform. The release says it will tie together fabrication workflows, material movement, inspection and documentation. Anduril says it is meant to support welders, pipefitters, electricians, shipfitters and inspectors, not replace them.

Chris Brose of Anduril said, as carried by WYPR, that the yard will first make smaller parts such as torpedo tubes, then move up to larger components such as bows and sterns. (ENR calls Brose Anduril’s president. WYPR calls him chief strategy officer.) A senior administration official, quoted by Fox News, called torpedo tubes a “gating component” slowing Virginia-class production.

The Maryland Department of Commerce and the Governor’s Office issued a joint release the same day. It says the State of Maryland and Baltimore County “announced a $3.7 billion private capital investment by Anduril Industries.” It calls the project the largest single private investment in Maryland and the largest job creator in the state in over a decade. That is the state’s framing.

Anduril says permitting and site preparation “will begin immediately,” with construction starting “as soon as the necessary approvals are in place.” ENR reports, citing Defense One, that Anduril expects to break ground by early 2027. CTN has not seen that date in an Anduril or state release, so treat it as unconfirmed.

Lease terms have not been disclosed. The Banner reported that Anduril will take over a 90-acre lease held by offshore wind developer US Wind, plus 97 acres not previously leased. Financial terms were not disclosed. Tradepoint’s Aaron Tomarchio told the paper that “Tradepoint worked with all partners on an agreeable arrangement.”

The $6.6 billion and the $3.7 billion

Two numbers circulate. They measure different things.

The $3.7 billion is Anduril’s expected private capital investment. Maryland’s releases use that figure only. Anduril has not said how much of it goes to buildings and how much to equipment and hiring, according to ENR.

The Navy has awarded Anduril a contract “of up to $2.9 billion,” per Anduril’s release. Payments are “tied directly to demonstrated production outcomes.” That is a ceiling, not a guaranteed payment. ENR, citing Anduril, reports the contract is separate from the private investment and is not a construction appropriation.

Anduril then adds the two: “Altogether, this equates to a $6.6 billion investment in America’s submarine industrial base.” That total is Anduril’s framing. It adds money Anduril plans to spend to money the Navy may spend buying output. White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly used a similar framing on a call with reporters, as carried by DefenseScoop: “The United States Navy, together with Anduril Industries, will invest $6.6 billion.”

Fox News, citing a US official, adds detail on the contract. The money flows through Electric Boat. It calls for Anduril to fabricate and qualify four test components. The official said it is not a guarantee of future production work. If Anduril meets milestones set and tested by Electric Boat, it would have “the opportunity, but not the entitlement, to compete for future production work.” CTN has not found a Navy or Pentagon contract notice that confirms those terms. Treat them as one official’s description.

The Navy figure is a ceiling on purchases tied to output. The $3.7 billion is a plan by a private company. Anduril’s release says its contract structure means Anduril, “not the taxpayer,” takes on the majority of execution risk.

Jobs, and why the totals differ

Anduril says Arsenal-2 “will create 3,100 direct jobs and support more than 11,000 indirect jobs.” The state release says the facility is “expected to support over 14,000 jobs, including the creation of more than 3,100 new permanent jobs.” Those two framings are close, but they are not the same sentence. Anduril counts indirect jobs separately. The state gives a total that includes the direct jobs.

Other numbers appear in official reaction. On an October 6 press call, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said “over 13,000 direct and indirect jobs,” per DefenseScoop. The White House’s October 8 release then used Anduril’s 3,100 direct and “more than 11,000 indirect.” The Governor’s “What They’re Saying” release carries Sen. Angela Alsobrooks and Rep. Sarah Elfreth citing “over 13,000” jobs. Anduril’s own compilation of the same quotes prints Alsobrooks at “14,000”. CTN does not treat any 13,000 figure as fact. The primary figures are Anduril’s 3,100 direct and 11,000-plus indirect, and the state’s 14,000-plus total.

Fox News says the indirect jobs are “nationwide.” Anduril’s release does not say where the indirect jobs would be. Treat the geography as open.

Anduril also says the site will “drive $2 billion in annual economic output, including an estimated $312 million in wages each year.” The state repeats both. Both are projections. Neither release says how they were modeled.

Brose said the jobs would pay “competitive wages.” He did not give a wage figure, according to WYPR. Anduril has not published job titles, a hiring schedule, or whether any roles will be union.

Site history: Sparrows Point

Sparrows Point sits on a peninsula at the mouth of the Patapsco River. Its steel and shipbuilding past is long. The history below comes from secondary sources, plus one state document, and is marked.

Technical.ly (secondary) reports that Pennsylvania Steel picked the site in 1887 for its access to deep water and rail. The mill began making steel in 1891 and launched its first ship the next year. Bethlehem Steel bought the operation in 1916.

The Baltimore Sun’s 2012 timeline (secondary) says the steel plant reached peak employment of 30,920 in 1959. Technical.ly puts the shipyard workforce at 4,000 at its peak. Anduril’s release says “Baltimore’s shipyards produced the first Liberty Ship during World War II” and that Sparrows Point was once known as the “Patriarch of U.S. Tanker Builders.” Those are Anduril’s historical claims. Rep. Elfreth’s quote in the state’s release repeats the Liberty Ship point.

Bethlehem Steel filed for bankruptcy in 2001, per both outlets. The mill then changed hands several times. The Sun reported on May 24, 2012 that the steel mill “will close in June.” Technical.ly says it ceased operations in 2012. Drexel’s Lindy Institute (secondary) says the mill’s last operator, RG Steel, filed for Chapter 11 on May 31, 2012.

The handover is better documented. The Maryland Department of the Environment announced on September 18, 2014 that an Administrative Consent Order with the new owner, Sparrows Point Terminal LLC, “became effective today upon sale of the property.” That is the state’s own record of the sale date. The order covers a 3,100-acre site. It requires $48 million in financial assurance for cleanup. MDE called it “perhaps the most complex cleanup site in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.”

WYPR (secondary) reports that Redwood Capital and Hilco Global bought the property in 2014 for a reported $110 million, and that the community was skeptical at the time. The site became Tradepoint Atlantic. Technical.ly lists tenants since: an Amazon fulfillment center in 2018, an Under Armour distribution facility the same year, a Gotham Greens greenhouse in 2020, and an offshore wind component facility in 2023 that is no longer active.

Environmental work continues. A Dundalk Eagle account of a public hearing (secondary) says residents of Edgemere and other nearby neighborhoods raised concerns about truck traffic. A Southern Maryland News report (secondary) says an environmental analyst raised concerns about dredging and legacy contamination. Those comments concerned Tradepoint’s container terminal and harbor plans. CTN has found no public comment from those speakers about Arsenal-2.

What the neighborhood lost is also in the record, but unevenly. The WYPR account says 30,000 jobs were lost when the mill closed. The Dundalk Eagle reported that the nearby country club lost members after Bethlehem Steel closed. CTN has not found city or county records that count what nearby communities lost.

Councilman Todd Crandell, speaking in the state’s release, says Tradepoint has brought “nearly 20,000 jobs back.” He says Anduril would lift total employment on the site above 23,000, “eclipsing the job totals last seen during the days of Bethlehem Steel.” That is his claim. CTN has not verified either total.

What Anduril’s other plants say about the plan

Anduril says Arsenal-2 is part of a wider network. Its release names Arsenal-1 near Columbus, Ohio; a maritime factory at Quonset Point, Rhode Island; a Ghost Shark factory in Sydney; and a rocket motor facility in McHenry, Mississippi. It says there are more than 15 other production sites.

The release also says Anduril is building a 160,000-square-foot facility in Orange County, California, for Virginia-class components, including torpedo tubes. Anduril says it gives the company “a two-year operational head start” before Arsenal-2 opens.

Arsenal-1 is the closest precedent. JobsOhio, a state development nonprofit, said the first Ohio-built Fury aircraft rolled off the line on July 27, 2026. It said production began in March, three months ahead of the company’s original target. The state group calls the timeline 18 months from announcement to first aircraft. That is a promoter’s claim, and it covers aircraft, not ships. Shipbuilding has a different supply chain and certification path. The Orange County facility, per Anduril, is built for “SUBSAFE-qualified production qualification efforts.”

Recent Anduril advances, last six months

These come from Anduril’s newsroom or a state agency.

  • May 13, 2026: Anduril and the Department of War announced a framework agreement for the surface-launched Barracuda-500M cruise missile. Anduril’s July release describes it as 1,000 systems per year for three years. (The May date is from Anduril News, an aggregator that reproduces Anduril’s newsroom. CTN did not open the original page.)
  • June 17, 2026: The Air Force selected Anduril for the production phase of the Collaborative Combat Aircraft program with the FQ-44. Anduril’s release says the contract also sets a structure for later lots. Reuters reported the Air Force did not disclose the cost or size of the order. The Air Force also picked General Atomics for the FQ-42.
  • July 15, 2026: The Department of War announced a framework agreement for pallet- and lug-launched Barracuda-500. Anduril’s release says it aims at thousands per year for seven years, with deliveries starting in 2027. The release says the department intends to buy a maximum of 8,000 vehicles a year across the variants and vendors.
  • July 27, 2026: First Ohio-built Fury off the Arsenal-1 line, per JobsOhio.
  • October 6, 2026: Arsenal-2 and the Navy contract.

A framework agreement is not a delivered order. CTN has not seen contract values for the May or July agreements.

Policy: who pays, who owns, who decides

The Commerce release says the state and Baltimore County “have made commitments to match up to 13% of the total anticipated private investment by Anduril through existing economic incentive programs and new appropriations that will require approval of the Maryland General Assembly and Baltimore County Council.” In plain terms: part of the package exists in current programs, and part is a promise that needs votes. CTN does not put a dollar figure on the 13%. Anduril and the state have not published a breakdown, and a figure printed by another outlet was its own arithmetic, which Anduril did not confirm, according to WYPR.

The package also includes capital support for a workforce-training Center of Excellence at a site “to be determined.” The state will “pursue” a federal Maritime Prosperity Zone designation for the region. That is a pursuit. It is not an award. CTN has not found a federal program text that defines the zone or says what benefits come with it.

Baltimore County’s piece is better documented. ENR reports that Bill 100-26, introduced October 5, would give a 100% county personal property tax credit on eligible maritime manufacturing equipment, estimated at up to $210 million over 30 years. WYPR cites officials for the same figure. Public hearings are set for October 13 and 27, according to WYPR. ENR calls them work sessions. A final vote is expected November 2. BMORENews reports that the introduced text requires a reporting agreement and does not itself set local hiring quotas. CTN has not read the bill text.

The federal side has several parts. The Navy contract is the first. The second is a government stake. President Trump said at the event that taxpayers will get “40 percent.” Anduril later clarified, per ENR, that the stake would sit in a subsidiary formed to run Arsenal-2, not in Anduril. Fox News, citing a US official, says the government would use the Defense Production Act and the Pentagon’s Industrial Base Fund, and that the stake would be “minority, non-control.” Fox asked the Department of War for the dollar value. CTN has not seen one. The terms of the stake are the least documented part of the deal.

The third part is capacity. A senior administration official said Arsenal-2 would add about 9 million labor hours a year, raising Virginia-class capacity by roughly 15%, according to ENR and Fox. That is a single unnamed official’s estimate. Fox reports that US yards deliver about 1.3 Virginia-class boats a year against a goal of two, which the Navy does not expect to reach until around 2032. Initial operations at Arsenal-2 are expected in 2030, so by Anduril’s own timeline it will not help the near-term backlog.

A presidential memorandum is part of the backdrop, and only the backdrop. On August 13, 2026, the White House issued “Rebuilding the United States Navy and America’s Shipbuilding Industrial Base.” The text, published by GovInfo, says the aim is to restore capacity and competition in the maritime industrial base, and it points to contracts that encourage investment in domestic shipbuilding. Section 4 orders the Secretary of War to submit, within 120 days, a plan that includes “the establishment of a fifth public Navy Yard,” with drydock capacity for the planned growth of the fast attack submarine fleet and sites near the Pacific Fleet. Section 5 calls for a component repair center plan. CTN searched the memorandum text. It does not mention Anduril, Arsenal-2, Sparrows Point or Baltimore. CTN does not say it caused or authorised Arsenal-2.

The White House did describe Arsenal-2 in an October 8 release. It says the yard “will produce critical Virginia-class components and large assemblies, create about 3,100 direct jobs, and support more than 11,000 indirect jobs,” and that “the Navy is putting up to $2.9 billion behind it.” Those numbers match Anduril’s, not the state’s 14,000 total.

No SEC filing is cited here. Anduril is private. CTN found no Port of Baltimore filing on the project, and no statement from the Baltimore Development Corporation.

What it means for Maryland’s manufacturing base

Official data give scale. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts manufacturing employment in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area at 58,100 in June 2026 (preliminary, not seasonally adjusted) and Maryland’s statewide figure at 110,600 in August (preliminary, seasonally adjusted). On those numbers, 3,100 direct jobs would equal roughly 5% of the metro’s manufacturing workforce. That is CTN arithmetic on projected jobs. It is not a forecast, and the workers may not come from the metro area.

The Maryland Department of Labor said in July that the state added 17,800 jobs in the first half of 2026, while “Maryland continues to recover from a year of federal job losses.” It also reported that manufacturing lost 700 jobs in June.

Officials frame the project as a boost to advanced manufacturing. Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller called it “a generational investment in Maryland’s future.” Commerce Secretary Harry Coker Jr. said it “confirms Maryland’s status as a global leader in maritime defense manufacturing.” Mike Galiazzo of the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland called it “a major validation of Maryland’s public-private leadership.”

Rep. Steny Hoyer pointed to uncrewed systems work around Patuxent River in Southern Maryland. Those are statements of aim. The record so far does not show which suppliers or schools would feed the yard.

Community voices

Officials are the loudest voices so far. Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier said the project “marks a turning point for Sparrows Point.” Councilman Julian Jones, whose father worked at the mill, said it marks “the historic return of shipbuilding to Sparrows Point.” Rep. Johnny Olszewski said his “roots run deep in Sparrows Point.” Greater Baltimore Committee CEO Mark Anthony Thomas said it would “create the kind of well-paying manufacturing jobs that can transform lives.”

Baltimore City voices focus on access. Councilwoman Phylicia Porter said “the real measure of Arsenal-2 is who gets to walk through those doors,” and named Cherry Hill, Brooklyn and Curtis Bay. Councilman Jermaine Jones said he wants “Baltimore workers connected directly to the training, careers, and long-term economic opportunity it creates.” Mayor Brandon Scott called it “a job creator and an economic engine” and said “Baltimore City’s Renaissance is here.” The word “renaissance” is the mayor’s. CTN does not adopt it.

Doubts were also voiced. At Dundalk’s Boulevard Diner, Carl Kuleck told CBS Baltimore: “It’s positive, but how many of those jobs are actually production jobs rather than warehouse jobs?” Another diner, David Keltz, said he was “really pleased.” Protesters from the People’s Power Assembly told WJZ the project “is not only a dangerous development for the people of the United States,” citing federal spending on the Pentagon and “AI-driven weapons.”

The United Steelworkers wrote in October 2025, in a Maryland Matters op-ed, that it was “profoundly disappointed” the Transportation Department had pulled a $47.3 million grant for a Sparrows Point steel plant with US Wind. CTN has found no USW statement on Arsenal-2, and Anduril has not said whether any jobs would be union. The Banner reports US Wind’s steel plant had been expected to create 500 jobs. US Wind’s CEO called Anduril’s project “an exciting development for the state, the region and the nation.”

State Sen. Carl Jackson told BMORENews: “A deal this big should mean more than a major announcement.”

There was a political fight too. Gov. Wes Moore said he was blocked from speaking at President Trump’s event. CBS Baltimore quoted him: “if the President of the United States wants to bring the circus into town and tell me that I’m not allowed to speak…” BMORENews reports the White House said it invited him as a guest. CTN has not seen the White House statement.

Baltimore, lately

Baltimore City is not the site. It is part of the story anyway, because officials keep saying “Baltimore.” Trump called it a win “for the city of Baltimore,” per WMAR. Tradepoint’s Kerry Doyle said the legacy is coming back “to Baltimore.”

The city’s own record is plain. Mayor Scott’s office reported 133 homicides in 2025, the fewest in nearly 50 years, down 31% from 194 in 2024. Non-fatal shootings fell to 311. Those are city figures, and the Baltimore Police Department’s year-end report gives the same totals.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in March 2024. Technical.ly (secondary) reports that Tradepoint set aside five acres to process debris. BMORENews reports that the state transportation authority is aiming to reopen the bridge in 2030, the same year Anduril targets initial operations. BMORENews notes that a shared target year does not show which will finish first.

CTN does not frame any of this as redemption. Mayor Scott’s “Renaissance” line is his own, and it is cited as his.

What this piece is not

It is not a look inside a finished plant. Nothing is built.

It is not a claim that Anduril will build submarines. The release says components and large assemblies, delivered for final assembly elsewhere.

It is not a verdict on the defense budget, offshore wind policy, or the politics of the event.

It is not an independent audit of any number. Jobs, output, wages and capacity are projections from Anduril, the state or unnamed officials.

It is not based on comment from Anduril or officials. CTN has not contacted them for this story. Everything comes from published releases and reporting.

What to watch

  • Do the County Council hearings on October 13 and 27, and the November 2 vote, change Bill 100-26?
  • Which incentives need General Assembly appropriations, how large are they, and when are they due?
  • What are the final terms of the federal 40% stake, and does a dollar value come out?
  • When do permits and construction approvals arrive, and does groundbreaking happen by early 2027?
  • Does the Navy contract notice confirm that the $2.9 billion is a ceiling tied to four test components?
  • Where will the Center of Excellence go, and who will run it?
  • Will Anduril publish job titles, wages, a hiring timeline, and whether any roles are union?
  • How many hires come from Baltimore City, as Councilwoman Porter asked?
  • Will the Maritime Prosperity Zone be defined by a federal program, and what would it offer?
  • Does Orange County’s two-year head start hold up on SUBSAFE qualification?

Sources

Method: CTN read each linked page on 11 October 2026 and checked figures against page text. Projections are the speakers’. CTN has not contacted Anduril or officials for this story. Details may change as approvals, hearings and contract notices land.