Anduril Weighs Baltimore Site to Build Drone Boats

“Anduril Industries is in advanced talks with a Maryland port to build out a production site for the company's drone boats, people familiar with the matter said, a sign of the growing military demand for autonomous sea vessels and the potential for defense startups to revitalize American industrial infrastructure.

 

Southern California-based Anduril has signed a memorandum of understanding with the operators of the historic Sparrows Point yard, a 3,300-acre industrial site in Baltimore County with a deep-water port and a rich history of shipbuilding and steel manufacturing.

 

Anduril's investment in building out a portion of the site for unmanned surface vessel production could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the people said. The operation would involve manufacturing and testing the unmanned boats.

 

The office of Maryland's governor, Democrat Wes Moore, has been involved in the discussions, and any deal would likely involve state incentives to offset Anduril's cost, the people said.

 

Anduril hasn't signed a lease, and the people cautioned that deal talks could still unravel. A spokesman for Moore declined to comment. A spokesman for Tradepoint Atlantic, the owner of Sparrows Point, didn't respond to requests for comment.

 

Investors purchased the site, once home to the industrial juggernaut Bethlehem Steel, starting in 2014 for redevelopment and renamed it Tradepoint Atlantic. The area now houses fulfillment and logistics centers for retailers such as Amazon.com and Home Depot. Two years ago, it became a hub for rerouting global shipping and recovering wreckage when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, creating a logistical and cleanup crisis.

 

A potential Maryland expansion comes as Anduril, fresh off a funding round this spring that values the company at $61 billion, pushes to roughly double capacity across its weapons-systems production.

 

Unmanned surface vessels are one of Anduril's newest products.

 

It has partnerships with U.K.-based Kraken Technology Group and South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to build the boats.” [1]

 

1. Business News: Anduril Weighs Baltimore Site to Build Drone Boats. Somerville, Heather; Calvert, Scott.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Aug 2026: B3.