Anduril selects Ohio for Arsenal-1

Anduril has announced that it will build its first $1.5 billion Arsenal-1 hyperscale factory in the state of Ohio following a year-long survey and selection process. The state has been selected in part for its logistics infrastructure and its workforce, which has a strong manufacturing background and a “legacy of leadership in defence,” according to Anduril’s press release. 

The factory, covering 464,000 square metres at its full scale, will be located next to Rickenbacker Airport, which provides direct access to “two 12,000-foot runways and a 75-acre private apron capable of supporting military-scale aircraft,” Anduril states. There are 500 additional acres at the site allowing for future expansion if so required. 

The Arsenal-1 factory is intended to reinvigorate the US defence industry, providing the ability to manufacture radars and other sensors, alongside missiles and autonomous systems at a significant scale whilst providing the resilience to rapidly introduce new systems as required. Anduril states that it will be able to produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems per year. 

The factory is software defined, which typically means that the output of an enterprise can be altered with adjustments to software, rather than new hardware. The central functions of the system in question are managed through software and all systems connected into it – this can be applied to a number of capabilities, like radios, but it can also apply to factories. 

Anduril’s software solution for this is The Arsenal Operating System (OS), a software suite that integrates the design, development and production stages into a single OS. It will enable the rapid introduction and scaling of production for new systems, according to Anduril.

Calibre comment 

The defence industry in the west faces a fairly difficult challenge in that many of its systems are too exquisite to be manufactured at a scale exceeding a few hundred platforms. Cost typically prevents this, although the ability of a force to ingest, maintain, and employ hundreds or thousands of platforms can also be a challenge. Anduril is betting on a return to older models of production, with many more systems that are potentially less capable on a per unit basis, but make up for that by providing mass and a resilient production base that can absorb attrition. This assumption has logic; a high intensity war consumes everything required to fight it at a very considerable rate, the side that is unable to meet the demand for munitions and effectors is more likely to lose. 

Some industry sources have indicated that Arsenal-2 could be an option for the UK, although much obviously depends upon the result of the Strategic Defence Review and the many competing priorities that the Labour government must balance.