Markets & Business
Anduril to build 1.18 million sq ft campus in Long Beach
Anduril is expanding its Southern California footprint with a new 1.18 million square foot campus in Long Beach, which is expected to eventually support about 5,500 jobs.
Defense technology company Anduril announced on Thursday plans to expand its Southern California presence with a new campus in Long Beach. The facility will span 1.18 million square feet across six buildings, combining office space and industrial areas. According to the company, the project is expected to be ready by mid-2027 and will eventually support about 5,500 jobs. These will be new positions rather than transfers from other operations, according to founder Palmer Luckey. The company’s headquarters is located nearby in Costa Mesa, California.
A company spokesperson clarified that the Long Beach facility will focus on research and development (R&D) and manufacturing-adjacent work, rather than direct fighter jet assembly. Instead, primary manufacturing will remain centered at Anduril’s large facility in Ohio. The new campus will feature six buildings combining office space and industrial areas. The company plans to hire similar types of employees to those working at its Costa Mesa headquarters, including manufacturing workers, technicians, assembly workers, and engineers across electrical, mechanical, and aerodynamics disciplines. The site will also support build, test, and logistics roles to manage the distribution of products all over the world.
Luckey highlighted Long Beach as “a major aerospace hub right in our backyard.” While the new facility will not directly assemble aircraft, Luckey emphasized Anduril’s broader focus on autonomous fighter jets—military aircraft operating via AI rather than being piloted remotely by a human operator. The company’s autonomous fighter jet model, Fury, operates using AI to execute flight plans set by humans. The Fury completed its first test flight in California on October 31.
Luckey expressed excitement about the company’s general expansion and the future of these autonomous systems, stating, “It looks like we’re going to be able to manufacture autonomous fighter jets that will take off right from the factory and fly to wherever the customer needs them.” He added that the company might eventually have jets leaving the factory and flying directly into combat, which he described as extremely cool.
Why it matters
Anduril’s expansion into a major aerospace hub like Long Beach signals the company’s scaling efforts as it continues to develop autonomous defense technologies like the Fury jet.