Defense contractor Anduril Industries said Thursday it will construct a manufacturing facility in Pickaway County, with plans to create more than 4,000 jobs in the next decade and potential to add $2 billion per year to the state’s economy.
Dubbed “Arsenal-1,” the eventual 5 million square foot facility will manufacture advanced military technology driven by Anduril’s centralized artificial intelligence software.
The weapons and weapons systems manufacturing plant will be constructed on 500 acres of land 20 minutes south of downtown Columbus, near Rickenbacker International Airport. The Columbus Regional Airport Authority owns the land, according to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office.
Gov. Mike DeWine said the figures mean Thursday’s announcement marks Ohio history—with at least 4,000 jobs, Anduril takes the title for the largest single direct job creation by a project, which Intel held prior to.
“We have an obligation to protect our men and women who we send as a country in harm’s way, and what Anduril is doing is giving those men and women who protect us the tools that they need,” DeWine said after the announcement event.
Anduril’s project in Ohio could create 4,500 indirect and induced jobs by 2035, too.
Intel made promises when announcing its fabrication plants in January 2022 but has been more recently mired in its own economic downswing and a federal funding disbursement that dragged.
“That industry is very cyclical,” JobsOhio CEO J.P. Nauseef said in a Thursday interview. “We’ve been ahead on every one of our timelines, and I believe there will be semiconductors produced there. That’s a cyclical industry and that's playing out.”
DeWine and Husted said they believe Ohio should pursue investments like these aggressively nonetheless.
“Anytime we do a deal, it’s contingent upon the company delivering what they promise, and we have not been afraid in any circumstance, including with General Motors, to go claw back any incentives they don’t deliver on,” Husted said.
For its $1 billion investment, Anduril is seeking $70 million in funding from the state, and a tax break through the Ohio Job Creation Tax Credit. That’s considerably less than what the state offered to Intel.
JobsOhio will also assist Anduril. The powerful private firm that pursues projects on the state’s behalf courted Intel and Anduril, both of which were months in the making.
“We’ve had more and more deals entering our pipeline that might not have given Ohio a look before, but we were made aware of this deal last summer,” Nauseef said.
The project could be manufacturing weapons and weapon systems products by summer 2026, according to DeWine’s office.
