JobsOhio is set to pay high-tech weapons maker Anduril more money to set up shop in Ohio than its ever given a company coming to the Buckeye State.
The state’s private nonprofit development corporation announced June 9 that it plans to award $310 million in grant funding to Anduril over the next 10 years for its planned manufacturing operation in Pickaway County. The payout will eclipse the grants JobsOhio awarded to both Intel and Honda for their economic development projects.
JobsOhio awarded grants totaling $237 million to Honda and LG Energy Solution for their plans to build an electric vehicle battery plant in southwest Ohio and for Honda’s plans to retool three of its Ohio plants to make the vehicles those batteries will power.
Anduril announced in January its plans to open a manufacturing campus in northern Pickaway County near Rickenbacker International Airport. Called Arsenal-1, the factory will build drones and autonomous weapons systems.
Intel’s New Albany factory received $150 million in grants from JobsOhio, the organization reported, though the state’s total incentive package for the chipmaker topped $2 billion.
The JobsOhio grant funding brings the state’s total support for the Anduril project to about $832 million, including state tax credits and money for a taxiway at nearby Rickenbacker International Airport. JobsOhio uses state liquor profits, via a lease agreement with the state, to fund economic development projects like Anduril’s factory.
To guarantee its grant money, Anduril will have to meet commitments on job creation and pledged investments through the year 2055. As part of the deal, Anduril must create 4,008 new jobs, more than $530 million in new payroll and at least $910.5 million in capital investment.
“JobsOhio’s assistance aligns with our goal to attract the world’s most cutting-edge companies while creating generational opportunities for Ohio’s people and economy,” JobsOhio president and CEO J.P. Nauseef said in a prepared release. “Anduril’s decision to choose Pickaway County not only brings the largest job creation project in Ohio’s history, it strengthens this state’s position as a global leader in aerospace and aviation innovation while presenting an unmatched opportunity to seize more of the sector’s rapidly evolving supply chain.”
Anduril already has contracts with the U.S. military, the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy, and the Royal Australian Navy.
The JobsOhio grant is just the latest round of funding announced in support of Anduril’s plans
Anduril received state tax credits worth up to $452 million over 30 years in January from the Ohio Tax Credit Authority, and the state is also allocating $70 million to add a taxiway to Rickenbacker.
Local incentives should be finalized early this summer, according to Tim Colburn, chief executive of Pickaway Progress Partnership, an economic development agency.
Anduril has already started hiring production engineers and technicians who will be trained in California, where Andruil is based, to work at Arsenal-1. Once Arsenal-1 is fully staffed and operational in 2035, the average salary for workers is expected to be a little more than $132,305 annually, according to JobsOhio.
With one pre-existing building on-site and a second facility already under construction, Anduril is preparing to start manufacturing products next summer, Zach Mears, Anduril senior vice president of strategy, previously told The Dispatch.
Anduril expects to eventually produce all its products at the facility except its propulsion systems. The company’s immediate priorities include the Fury autonomous aircraft with a 17-foot wingspan; the Barracuda family of missiles and “autonomous air vehicles;” and the Roadrunner reusable ground-to-air defense system.
“Arsenal-1 demonstrates the value proposition of Ohio’s workers, learning institutions, supply chain advantages, and access to customers for cutting-edge companies on the coasts looking to advance technology and grow their businesses,” Nauseef said in the release. “We look forward to partnering with Anduril as it hyperscales manufacturing of military platforms through advanced software and production technologies with talent from Ohio.”
Dispatch investigative reporter Max Filby can be reached by email at mfilby@dispatch.com. Find him on X at the handle @MaxFilby or on Facebook at @ReporterMaxFilby.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: JobsOhio to give Anduril more than double to build weapons than what it gave Intel for chips
Reporting by Max Filby, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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