Production of military drones and autonomous air vehicles could begin in July 2026. COLUMBUS, Ohio — U.S. defense contractor Anduril Industries is preparing to build a massive advanced manufacturing facility in central Ohio, adding a planned 4,000 jobs to the area's burgeoning high-tech sector, state officials announced last week.

Anduril Industries has selected a site near Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus, Ohio, to house a planned 5 million sq ft unmanned vehicle production

The TSA reported Thursday that it intercepted 31 handguns at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in 2024, down from 38 discovered in carry-on luggage the previous year. That equates to 5.7 firearms found for every 1 million passengers screened.

A "hearty Ohio breakfast" led a defense contractor to decided to build a 5-million-square-foot weapons factory in Pickaway County.

Anduril Industries plans to invest more than $900 million to build the facility on 500 acres in Pickaway County near Rickenbacker International Airport.

Located at Rickenbacker International airport near Columbus, Anduril's "Arsenal-1" facility will be the company's first attempt at reaching what it calls "hyper-scale" production capacity of delivering tens of thousands of autonomous weapon systems annually.

Anduril announced it is building their massive weapons factory, Arsenal-1, in Columbus, Ohio, confirming TechCrunch’s earlier reporting.

The defense-tech's complex near Columbus' Rickenbacker International Airport is expected to create 4,000 high-paying jobs over the next decade. A defense-tech unicorn has chosen Central Ohio for an advanced manufacturing complex to make a huge arsenal of drones and autonomous weapons for the U.

Dubbed "Arsenal-1," the $1 billion Pickaway County factory will be the largest job-creation project in Ohio history, state officials say.

U.S. defense contractor Anduril Industries is preparing to build a massive advanced manufacturing facility in central Ohio, adding a planned 4,000 jobs to the area's burgeoning high-tech sector, state officials announced Thursday.

The TSA stopped a total 6,678 firearms at airport security checkpoints nationwide, approximately 94% of them were loaded.

Wright-Patt, home to some 38,000 military and civilian employees, is not just Ohio’s largest single-site employer. The large base also is the heart of Air Force research and materiel missions, designing and crafting future weapons and systems while simultaneously overseeing the maintenance of the service’s existing fleet.