In a major milestone, American military technology firm Anduril Industries has completed its first Ohio-built Fury fighter aircraft, putting the company on track to scale production at its Arsenal-1 manufacturing campus.
The first Fury rolled off the production line on July 27, just 557 days after Anduril announced plans to build the facility in Pickaway County. The company also began production in March, three months ahead of its original July target.
Fury, also designated the FQ-44, is Anduril’s semi-autonomous fighter aircraft being developed for the US Air Force. In June, the Air Force selected Anduril to move the aircraft into production, bringing the programme closer to operational deployment.
Fury takes flight
According to Anduril, the Fury production line at Arsenal-1 can currently produce up to 150 aircraft annually. The company said it moved from announcing the facility to permitting, construction, equipment installation, hiring and aircraft production in less than two years.
At full buildout, Arsenal-1 is planned as a 5-million-square-foot advanced manufacturing campus spread across 500 acres near Rickenbacker International Airport. The facility is expected to have runway access for testing and development.
Anduril has committed $910.5 million in capital investment to the project and plans to create 4,008 new production and service jobs by 2035. The project is expected to become the largest single job creation and new payroll project in Ohio history.
“Our job at One Columbus is to bring the right partners to the table and help clear the path for companies ready to make transformative investments,” said Jonas Peterson, chief economic development officer and president of One Columbus. “Securing Arsenal-1 demanded close coordination among partners across the Region. The first Fury rolling off the line 557 days after the announcement shows what that alignment can deliver.”
Anduril has designed Arsenal-1 to manufacture multiple autonomous systems at high volume for the US and its allies. Once fully completed, the campus is expected to have the capacity to produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems.
“This moment belongs to the people who spent years preparing Pickaway County for an opportunity of this scale and to the Anduril team that moved with urgency from day one,” said Pickaway County Commissioner Jay Wippel. “Arsenal-1 will create thousands of jobs, help local businesses grow and open new career paths for people across our community.”
Ohio scales defense production
The Fury milestone is part of a wider expansion of aerospace and defense manufacturing in Ohio, with the state seeking to attract companies that can move quickly from development to large-scale production.
Ohio has a supply chain of more than 640 aerospace companies, supported by major facilities and organizations including Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Air Force Research Laboratory, NASA Glenn Research Center and the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence.
Recent investments have added to that manufacturing push. Electra selected Springfield for an $850 million aircraft manufacturing operation expected to create 1,975 jobs after evaluating more than 140 locations.
Beehive Industries has also announced a $70 million expansion in Southwest Ohio to scale jet engine production and create more than 200 jobs. The company expects the operation to eventually support production of more than 8,000 engines annually.
