Anduril Secures $310 Million Grant to Build Arsenal 1 Drone Factory
July 10, 2025
Anduril Industries has just been awarded a $310 million grant from JobsOhio to develop Arsenal 1, a state-of-the-art, 5 million ft² manufacturing hub for military drones and autonomous air vehicles near Columbus, Ohio. Over the next decade, this project represents a total capital investment of $910 million and is set to create 4,008 skilled jobs in advanced aerospace production .
Why Arsenal 1 Matters
Scale & Speed: At 5 million ft², Arsenal 1 will centralize development, assembly, and testing under one roof—dramatically shortening production timelines for the next generation of unmanned platforms.
Economic Impact: Beyond job creation, the facility will foster an aerospace ecosystem of suppliers, logistics partners, and specialized service providers across Ohio.
Strategic Resilience: Domestic drone manufacturing reduces reliance on overseas production, ensuring rapid responsiveness to evolving defense requirements and supply-chain disruptions.
Optex: Powering Mission-Critical Vision
As Anduril ramps up production, precision imaging remains mission-critical. Optex Systems, a NATO-accredited defense contractor partnering with BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin, specializes in optical and mechanical assemblies tailored for unmanned platforms. While stabilized monocular modules are sourced from leading optics manufacturers, Optex’s in-house engineering teams integrate these components—alongside high-resolution thermal cameras—into ruggedized pods that mount seamlessly to UAVs. The result? Turnkey vision systems that deliver clear, reliable imagery for surveillance, targeting, and situational awareness.
Looking Ahead
Groundbreaking for Arsenal 1 is slated for late 2025, with initial production runs kicking off in 2026. As the facility scales, Anduril and its ecosystem partners—including optics integrators like Optex—will usher in a new era of drone capability: faster deployment, sharper intelligence, and enhanced operational autonomy.
For more on how Optex integrates advanced sensor assemblies into unmanned platforms, contact optexsys.com. Let’s build the future of aerial intelligence—together.
