Trump is to announce a $6.6bn Baltimore shipyard deal with Anduril to close gap with China on submarine production

From the Newshound archive · first published 6 October 2026 · last updated 7 October 2026.

President Trump will travel to Sparrows Point, Baltimore, on Tuesday to make a formal announcement of a joint $6.6bn investment with defence technology firm Anduril Industries in Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine components. Anduril will build a shipyard exceeding two million square feet at the former Bethlehem Steel site, funded by $3.7bn from the company and a $2.9bn US Navy contract. The White House says the Arsenal 2 facility will support more than 13,000 jobs, both direct and indirect, and produce $2bn in annual economic output. American yards are currently delivering only around 1.3 Virginia-class submarines per year, well short of the Navy's two-per-year target.

US shipyards are so far behind that the Navy does not expect to hit its two-submarines-a-year target until around 2032.

The facility will eventually manufacture large vessel sections including bows and sterns, adding roughly nine million labour hours a year — a 15% capacity boost.

A senior administration official pointed to China's dominance of commercial shipping as the direct strategic threat driving the investment.