Anduril to open large scale AUV production facility

Californian company Anduril Industries will open a new 100,000-150,000 square foot manufacturing facility to support large-scale production of its Dive-LD family of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, on the east coast of the USA. By investing in a scaled production facility ahead of need, Anduril says it will be able to stay ahead of customer demand and deliver on orders with unprecedented speed.

The Rhode Island production facility will enable Anduril to increase production to 200 AUVs per year and create more than 100 jobs over the next five years, the company adds. The factory announcement comes amid growing demand for Anduril’s AUVs, including a US$18.6 million ($27.9 million) contract with the US Navy.

AUVs are transforming maritime deterrence by providing an affordable, distributed, and adaptable undersea capability that complements the US and allied submarine fleet, says Anduril. Developing, manufacturing, and fielding these systems at scale on an operationally-relevant timeline will be critical. The new production facility will enable Anduril to immediately increase production capacity for its Dive-LD family of AUVs to more than 200 hulls per year.

“We are thrilled to build a state-of-the-art production manufacturing facility for our LD family of vehicles in Quonset Point” said Shane Arnott, Senior Vice President at Anduril Industries. “Affordable, distributed mass is a central tenet of undersea deterrence and we look forward to supporting large-scale, cost-effective AUV deployments with our new facility.

“Our Maritime Division continues to develop advanced undersea capabilities and, with large contract awards both in the United States and Australia, we are committed to the mass manufacturing of those proven capabilities at speed and at scales that matter.”

The new facility is strategically located in close proximity to Anduril’s maritime engineering centre in Quincy, Massachusetts, ensuring that products can be rapidly updated based on customer feedback, even in the midst of full-rate production. The production facility will be able to accommodate the complete lifecycle of the hull — from R&D through sustainment — with dedicated onsite testing facilities and service bays. This manufacturing facility will enable Anduril to produce AUVs at scale, the company says, and create a paradigm shift in maritime deterrence that places a greater emphasis on unmanned and autonomous systems.

Anduril AUVs are designed from the ground-up for production at scale, says the company. The factory announcement comes amid growing demand from defence and commercial customers. The US Navy, for example, recently awarded Anduril an $18.6 million contract to cover an initial buy of Dive AUVs through the Defense Innovation Unit’s (DIU) Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (LDUUV) prototyping effort, following a “swim off” competition late last year.

“Over the last 6 months, the US Navy, in partnership with DIU and Congress, has driven an aggressive program timeline to put vendors on contract, acquire capabilities, and rapidly demonstrate those capabilities with warfighters,” said Nick Stoner, Director at Anduril Industries. “This contract is a fantastic example of how the US Navy can incentivize industry to make capital investments and produce the kinds of undersea asymmetric advantages our Fleet Commanders need, on the timelines they need them.”

Earlier this year, Anduril unveiled the first prototype Ghost Shark Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) in Sydney, Australia. The company has invested some $70 million, or about half of the project cost, in the XL-AUV program. It is partnered with the Royal Australian Navy, the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), and the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG).