Anduril, the protection tech firm co-founded by Palmer Luckey, is contemplating constructing its first main manufacturing plant, a 5-million-square-foot facility often called “Arsenal-1,” in Arizona, Ohio, or Texas, in keeping with somebody accustomed to the matter.
The firm, which is growing autonomous drones, planes, and submarines, had introduced $1.5 billion at a $14 billion post-money valuation in September.
In conjunction with that spherical, Anduril introduced it plans to make use of the recent capital for manufacturing, investing “lots of of tens of millions” to develop its Arsenal-1 facility. It additionally mentioned it will use the cash for hiring and promised that the ability will make use of “1000’s of individuals” and be able to producing “tens of 1000’s of autonomous army techniques yearly.”
When TechCrunch requested an Anduril spokesperson if the corporate was now selecting between these three places for its manufacturing unit, she responded, “That is wrong” however wouldn’t specify what precisely was incorrect.
Earlier this 12 months, the U.S. Air Force selected Anduril to develop and check small unmanned fighter jets. The firm beat out Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman for the deal, a major win for the 7-year-old VC-backed enterprise. (A surveillance plane firm, General Atomics, was additionally chosen as an awardee to modernize the Air Force fleet.)
Anduril is at the moment manufacturing its techniques in Georgia, Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Australia, in keeping with its web site. While these places are offering the corporate with “important manufacturing capability,” Anduril needs the brand new facility to turn out to be a prototype of a sooner, cheaper, software-defined manufacturing unit for constructing weapons, one which is ready to enhance manufacturing quickly and nimbly.
This is in distinction to the type of typical bespoke protection and aerospace contractor manufacturing at this time, which makes every half expensive to alter. Anduril shouldn’t be the one VC-backed protection tech firm engaged on the manufacturing a part of the issue. As TechCrunch beforehand reported, a bunch of former Anduril engineers launched a startup known as Salient Motion to do that for the aerospace business and was promptly sued by Anduril. The swimsuit has since been settled. Others, like Ursa Major, are engaged on making rocket motors via 3D printing.
Although Anduril’s headquarters are in Costa Mesa, California, and can stay there, our supply says, the vast majority of the corporate’s employees will probably be based mostly at Arsenal-1. Arizona, Texas, and Ohio are all pretty widespread sense potential decisions, as all are states the place protection contractors and different kinds of manufacturing amenities abound.
Investors in Anduril’s final spherical embrace Founders Fund, Sands Capital, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Baillie Gifford.
