The US has atrophied in manufacturing capability over the last 30 years by offshoring production to lower-cost locations like China, which has now developed advanced tooling and manufacturing know-how that would be difficult to replicate even with labor cost parity.

Anduril is opening a 5 million square foot manufacturing facility called Arsenal 1 near Columbus, Ohio in Q1 of the next year for producing collaborative combat aircraft (autonomous fighter planes).

During World War II, US companies like Ford converted their civilian production lines to manufacture bombers for the Allied war effort, demonstrating the ability to rapidly retool manufacturing for defense needs.

Re-industrialization is critically important for the US for cultural, geopolitical, and strategic reasons, and requires the ability to build not just hundreds or thousands but tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of units efficiently and scalably while retaining a magazine inventory advantage against adversaries.

Ohio was chosen for Arsenal 1 not only because it has advantages as a manufacturing location but because it has historical significance as the birthplace of aviation (Wright brothers) and hosts GE Aviation/GE Aircraft engine manufacturing, creating a cultural and industrial ecosystem aligned with aerospace manufacturing.

Without domestic manufacturing capacity to produce weapons at scale and speed, a nation cannot maintain military capability or deterrence, making manufacturing itself a strategic weapon and core element of national defense.