The facts
Anduril Industries announced on Tuesday a $3.7 billion investment to build a new submarine‑parts shipyard in Maryland, called Arsenal‑2. The company will also receive a $2.9 billion U.S. Navy contract to produce components for Virginia‑class fast‑attack submarines, including torpedo tubes and hull sections. The facility is projected to create about 3,100 direct jobs and support more than 11,000 indirect roles. Co‑founder Palmer Luckey is heading the Pentagon’s Project Meridian, a 120‑day study on future warfare alongside Elon Musk. Anduril President Chris Brose said the yard’s primary focus is component manufacturing, not new drone platforms. The Navy currently builds roughly 1.1‑1.2 submarines per year, below its target of two.
Our take
Well, well, look who’s decided to play with the big‑boy toys again. Anduril Industries, the defense startup founded by Oculus‑originator Palmer Luckey, is now pouring $3.7 billion – plus a $2.9 billion Navy contract – into a Maryland submarine‑parts plant. Because nothing says we’re serious about national security like a tech bro who made his name in virtual reality deciding he can also run a shipyard. This is the equivalent of a rich kid buying a model train set and then demanding the city let him run Amtrak because his set has a little whistle. Fuck off. The company’s president, Chris Brose, insists Arsenal‑2 will focus on torpedo tubes and hull sections for Virginia‑class subs, the very boats the traditional shipbuilding industry can’t churn out fast enough because of supply‑chain snarls and labor shortages. So the Pentagon’s brilliant solution is to hand nearly three billion dollars to a Silicon‑valley‑bred entrepreneur who now pals around with Elon Musk on Project Meridian – a side‑hustle about autonomous, AI‑powered warfare. Let’s be clear: this is a Hail Mary pass made of pure, uncut bullshit. The Navy is desperate to hit its two‑submarines‑a‑year target, a goal it keeps missing, and it’s outsourcing that desperation to a firm whose core expertise is uncrewed underwater drones. It’s like hiring a Roomba to fix your crumbling foundation. The promise of 3,100 jobs and over 11,000 indirect roles is just economic viagra: a temporary, expensive pump that does fuck‑all to address the systemic erectile dysfunction in American military procurement. This is a grift wrapped in a flag, dipped in a vat of taxpayer cash. Palmer Luckey gets to cosplay as a defense titan, the Navy pretends it’s “innovating” out of a hole it dug, and we all foot the bill for a submarine‑parts factory that will inevitably be years behind schedule and billions over budget. Because in the end, the only thing this venture is guaranteed to produce is a mountain of press releases and a deeper, more profound national embarrassment. Absolute cunts.
