As a defense contractor whose customers include the U.S. Air Force, Anduril Industries is a secretive operation, with multiple levels of security at its Arsenal-1 manufacturing facility in northern Pickaway County.
But it also has hosted two major open houses for media, public officials and employees. And when it expands production or adds a new product line, it proudly shares the news.
Anduril is now touting expanded production of ALTIUS 600 from its current facility in Atlanta to Arsenal-1, about 15 miles southeast of Columbus. The new production line will increase Anduril’s overall production capacity while ALTIUS 600 continues to be built in Atlanta. The new line will join Fury, Roadrunner and Barracuda in production at the 500-acre campus.
Roadrunner is a reusable, vertical take-off and landing autonomous drone built for low-cost air defense, reconnaissance, and intercept missions, according to Anduril.
In July, the California-based company completed its first Fury autonomous aircraft, at the Arsenal-1 facility just south of Rickenbacker International Airport.
And as the company invested more than $40 million to build a more than 115,000 square-foot production facility in Southern California to meet near-term demand for the Barracuda family of systems, it also announced that this year production for Barracuda-500 will begin the shift to a nearly $1 billion, 5 million-square-foot hyper-scale production facility at Arsenal-1 whose aim is to further scale production capacity and meet additional surges in demand.
Geopolitical instability, including wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, have created a demand for innovative manufacturing that can quickly shift assembly processes, company officials have said.
“Arsenal-1 was designed to give Anduril the capacity and flexibility to respond quickly to growing demand,” Kevin Kerr, Anduril’s vice-president of production, said in a written statement. “Expanding ALTIUS 600 production to Ohio is another example of that strategy becoming real. We are adding capability, building the team and continuing to deliver on the commitments we made when we announced Arsenal-1.”
Anduril currently has a valuation of about $60 billion, following a $5 billion round of venture capital funding in May. The growth is leading the company toward a $100 billion valuation at some point.
Anduril hiring in Ohio
The company announced its move to central Ohio in January 2025, with the promised of more than 4,000 jobs by 2035.
Initial hiring is now underway for experienced launch-team members who will help establish the ALTIUS 600 line at Arsenal-1. Broader hiring will follow as the line is established and production scales.
Company spokeswoman Kristen Easterday said production will begin within the first half of 2027. She declined to provide details about additional jobs that would be needed, saying only that the company was on pace with its planned rollouts.
“As with many of our programs, the team supporting Altius will grow as the program scales. Beyond the initial launch and production team, we expect to add employees over time to support increased production, maintenance, sustainment and the other functions required throughout the lifecycle of the program.”
Open positions at the Ashville location can be viewed at a jobs portal on Anduril's website.
What is ALTIUS 600?
Latin for 'higher,' altius also is an acronym (Agile Launched, Tactically-Integrated Unmanned System).
The weapon is a versatile, tube-launched, fixed-wing autonomous drone developed by a subsidiary of Anduril Industries.
"It can be launched from the ground, air and sea," said Easterday. "It has some flexibility."
As with other autonomous aircraft and drones, it can be equipped with weaponry and controlled remotely, lessening the risk of injury or death during combat.
The per unit cost of ALTIUS has not been disclosed. However when via large military contracts that bundle the drones with launch systems, training equipment, software, and logistics support has been estimated at about $1 million, according to GovConWire, a government contracting news site.
Growth and development reporter Dean Narciso can be reached at dnarciso@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Nimble, versatile 'Altius-600' Anduril product to be built in Ohio
