It’s a “big, big day” for Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine said in a press conference Wednesday. DeWine and state leaders agreed that a rapidly growing Wright-Patterson and a thriving Ohio defense ecosystem overall helped draw Anduril to the Buckeye State.
“With Wright-Patterson Air Force Base continuing to grow where it is today, it puts the companies like Anduril very close to the customer (the Air Force),” DeWine said. “That, I think, is a vitally important thing.”
Wright-Patt, home to some 38,000 military and civilian employees, is not just Ohio’s largest single-site employer. The large base also is the heart of Air Force research and materiel missions, designing and crafting future weapons and systems while simultaneously overseeing the maintenance of the service’s existing fleet.
“We were just perfectly situated for this sector,” said Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
In the press briefing, Anduril Chief Strategy Officer Chris Brose said he was eager to get started, and he hopes to have products rolling off Ohio production lines by the middle of next year.
“We are actively engaged with the United States Air Force,” Brose said.
Some of the first products to be made at the planned facility will be the company’s autonomous “Fury” aircraft, as well as the “Barricuda” low-cost cruise missile (without the explosives) and the “Road Runner” surface-to-air weapon, again minus what Brose called the weapon’s “energetics.”
“Those three (products) will be our priority right away,” he said.
In addition to the 4,000 direct jobs at a facility being called “Arsenal-1,” the project is anticipated to create a total of 4,500 indirect and induced jobs over the next decade and more than $2 billion in annual economic output.
The plant will be located approximately a 90-minute drive east of Dayton, near Rickenbacker International Airport.
“The 5-million-square-foot facility, named Arsenal 1, represents the largest single job creation and new payroll project in Ohio’s history and is projected to add nearly $1 billion to Ohio’s gross domestic product,” said JobsOhio, the state’s private development arm.
Based in Costa Mesa, Calif., Anduril seeks to build U.S. military weapons and platforms by “hyperscaling” manufacturing with advanced software and production technologies, the state said.
Over $1 billion in-state labor income will be generated, and projected tax revenues are estimated to be roughly $800 million, the state said.
“Arsenal-1 represents a significant step forward in how we build the autonomous systems and weapons our nation and allies need, leveraging Ohio’s world-class workforce, robust infrastructure, and scalable, software-driven manufacturing to set a new standard for securing the future of defense,” said Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf. “We are ready to break ground and get to work building the capabilities that will strengthen America’s industrial base and national security for years to come.”
In April, the Air Force announced that Anduril had been selected as one of two vendors to move forward on the Collaborative Combat Aircraft or “CCA” program.
While the Air Force in April awarded contracts to Anduril and General Atomics for the air vehicle portion of the project, the identities of five companies working on the CCA’s autonomy software has been classified.
Over the next phase, Anduril will design, manufacture, and test production-representative CCAs, the company said
“Anduril is going to be a great partner, a great partner for the business community in Ohio,” said J.P. Nauseef, president and CEO of JobsOhio.
“This is an incredibly special place that we’re moving into, and we’re incredibly excited,” Brose said.
Asked which states Ohio beat for the project, Brose said: “I’m pretty sure we looked at every one of them.”
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