WASHINGTON — President Trump is expected to announce Tuesday that the federal government and Anduril Industries will invest a combined $6.6 billion to manufacture critical components for Virginia-class submarines in Baltimore, in a joint effort aimed at strengthening US maritime power.
The facility, known as Arsenal 2, will receive $3.7 billion in capital from California-based Anduril, along with $2.9 billion through a contract between the company and the US Navy.
“This delivers on President Trump’s promise to bolster America’s defense industrial base while revitalizing our manufacturing industry, creating over 13,000 direct and indirect jobs and driving $2 billion in annual economic output,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said.
“In line with the president’s maritime action plan released earlier this year, the Trump administration is rebuilding US shipbuilding capacity and capabilities, reforming workforce, education and training, protecting our maritime industrial base, and eliminating burdensome industry regulations.”
The facility will be built at Sparrows Point, a former Bethlehem Steel site that also housed a shipyard. It will initially produce torpedo tubes before expanding to ship sections, including bows and sterns, among other components, according to an industry official.
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The US Navy currently operates 26 Virginia-class submarines and is expected to be building two of the vessels each year.
Virginia-class submarines are nuclear-powered attack vessels designed to succeed the Los Angeles-class submarines that entered service during the Cold War.
“China competes with us,” a senior administration official said. “Not only at sea … going navy to navy, but also, you know, the way that China … very strongly dominates in the area of commercial shipping.”
Trump signed an executive order in April 2025 intended to restore America’s maritime dominance, with a focus on countering China’s control of global commercial shipping.
In April 2026, the Navy cancelled a Biden-era plan to overhaul the USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class submarine, and redirected billions of dollars toward Virginia-class submarines.
During Joe Biden’s presidency, the Navy awarded a $1.2 billion contract to renovate the Boise, but the project’s costs had risen sharply in the years since.
