Submarine facility coming to Tradepoint Atlantic expected to create 3,100 jobs

A massive facility in southeastern Baltimore County will soon produce submarine parts — lots of them — in what could represent one of the biggest economic boosts for the region in years.

Anduril Industries, a rapidly growing weapons manufacturer, is expected to spend $3.7 billion on a 2 million-square-foot manufacturing facility at Tradepoint Atlantic. The company said that will directly create 3,100 jobs, which would eventually make it one of the county’s top five private employers.

The facility is expected to open in 2030, with operations scaling up in the following years.

President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are expected to make a rare appearance in the region Tuesday afternoon to promote the new site. The U.S. Navy has awarded Anduril a $2.9 billion contract, according to a company press release.

The facility is the latest in a string of transformational developments at Sparrows Point, the former home of Bethlehem Steel. Tradepoint bought the site in 2014, converting it into a vast logistics hub.

It marks a return to the area’s roots, in a way; Sparrows Point was the site of a 20th-century military shipyard.

“We’re really excited to be bringing it back to shipbuilding glory,” said Chris Brose, Anduril’s president and chief strategy officer.

The project is expected to receive about $500 million in public subsidies from the state and county, pending legislative action from the General Assembly and the Baltimore County Council. That includes a personal property tax incentive of up to $210 million over 30 years that the council is considering.

The facility will construct components of nuclear-powered attack submarines, such as torpedo tubes, sterns and bows. Those pieces will eventually be assembled at other shipyards — Huntington Ingalls in Newport News, Virginia, and General Dynamics Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut — and deployed by the Navy.

Anduril was founded by Palmer Luckey, a Trump-supporting, Hawaiian-shirt-wearing California native who became a billionaire at age 21 when he sold Oculus VR, a virtual reality company. Luckey, along with Elon Musk, was recently named to a Pentagon commission to “study the battlefields of the future,” which some observers described as a conflict of interest given that Anduril regularly contracts with the U.S. military.

Anduril is named for a sword from “The Lord of the Rings,” but some of the company’s capabilities seem more sci-fi than fantasy.

It builds autonomous aircraft — which operate without human guidance — and incorporates artificial intelligence into its weapons. Luckey has drawn attention for saying that in the coming decades, some warfare will be subterranean, featuring “vehicles that can maneuver through the crust of the earth the same way that submarines move through the water.”

The company has stressed that the U.S. needs to amass more weapons. “To rebuild the arsenal, we must hyperscale manufacturing,” its website states.

Construction at Sparrows Point, however, will focus on Virginia-class submarines, more traditional crewed vessels that already exist in the Navy.

Brose declined to specify the length of the company’s lease at Tradepoint, except to say it’s “long-term.”

“This is going to be an enduring program,” he said of the Navy’s plans to manufacture the submarines.

Tradepoint has steadily grown over the past decade as retailers have added warehouses and distribution centers on its land. Its port capabilities are growing, too, and it’s in the midst of building out a new container terminal.

But this is Tradepoint’s biggest splash yet.

Gov. Wes Moore called the facility, which will be about the size of 40 football fields, “one of the largest economic projects” in state history.

“This project means thousands of Marylanders will have new pathways to work, wages and wealth,” he said.

Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier called it a “real turning point for Sparrows Point.”

Anduril launched a large-scale facility in Ohio last year, which it dubbed “Arsenal-1,” in a reference to strengthening the country’s arsenal. The Sparrows Point site will be “Arsenal-2.”

The company considered sites outside of Maryland, although officials declined to specify their locations. Ultimately, the East Coast location near other submarine contractors and its proximity to a large workforce base were key factors in choosing Maryland, Anduril said.

“When you’re making a $3.7 billion investment,” Brose said, “you’re going to scour the country to make sure that you’re making that investment in the absolute optimal location.”