President Trump announced Tuesday that the federal government will partner with defense technology firm Anduril Industries to build a $6.6 billion submarine production facility at a Baltimore shipyard.
Under the agreement, Anduril will spend $3.7 billion to build a two-million-square-foot “software-defined” shipyard at Tradepoint Atlantic, in the Sparrows Point Shipyard near the Port of Baltimore. In addition, the Navy also awarded Anduril a $2.9 billion contract, for a total investment north of $6 billion.
The shipyard, dubbed Arsenal 2, will build components for Virginia-class attack submarines. That includes torpedo tubes, sterns and bow sections.
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Mr. Trump said the Navy’s investment guarantees American taxpayers a 40% stake in the new project.
“We get 40% and the storied grounds of Sparrows Point will never fall silent again,” Mr. Trump said.
“Since World War II, there’s been nothing like what we’re doing today,” Mr. Trump said. “The workers of Baltimore and the shipyard here at Sparrows Point have been a vital part of the American industrial strength for literally over 100 years.”
The new facility is expected to support 14,000 jobs, including the creation of 3,100 permanent jobs. Maryland officials said in a statement that the shipyard will become the state’s largest job creator. In addition, the project is expected to generate $2 billion in economic output, including $312 million in estimated wages.
Anduril’s $3.7 billion investment is the largest single private investment in the state.
Nuclear-powered Virginia-class submarines are currently built by General Dynamics Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries near Norfolk, Virginia. Anduril will not build complete submarines at the shipyard known as Sparrows Point, but will supply the components and handle larger assemblies for the final assembly by the two shipbuilders.
The Navy currently has 26 Virginia-class submarines and expects to add two more in the spring, according to the White House.
The Anduril project is part of Mr. Trump’s 2025 executive order to bolster U.S. submarine and shipbuilding to better compete with China, which dominates commercial shipping and maritime defense.
Virginia-class attack submarines are the successors to the Los Angeles-class submarines. In April, the Trump administration scuttled a Biden-era plan to overhaul a Los Angeles-class submarine, the USS Boise, and redirect billions in funding toward Virginia-class submarines.
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