COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Military analysts are still studying Operation Spider Web, the unprecedented weekend assault on Russia’s nuclear-capable, long-range bombers.
More than 100 Ukrainian drones struck air bases deep inside Russia, with explosions reported in five separate regions.
The operation was said to be in the planning stages for 18 months, and a new Columbus defense contractor might have been part of that plan.
Anduril is building its newest manufacturing facility near Rickenbacker air base, but its vice president for strategy said it is already supplying autonomous weapons — including drones — to the United States and its allies, including Ukraine.
“I think the biggest lesson to take away from Ukraine is not just what they can do, but what’s needed, the timelines on which they are needed that very much animates what we’re building here in Columbus, Ohio, at our Arsenal One campus,” Anduril Senior Vice President of Strategy Zachary Mears said.
And what a campus it will be; five million square feet of manufacturing space that will eventually employ 4,000 people.
Anduril is the nation’s newest defense contractor and it is changing the landscape for the military-industrial complex.
“Central Ohio is going to be vital to the future of what we do,” Mears said. “Many of the products that we’ve designed and built are literally going to be made here over the next many decades.”
Unlike other defense suppliers who come up with a proposed weapon and ask the Pentagon to pay for research, development and production, Anduril uses its own capital to design and build high-tech software and weapons that are ready for market.
“Well, we, we very much ascribe to the view that we’re providing capabilities to defend the West,” Mears said.
And to defend America’s allies around the world with a never-before-seen business model.
“We think competition within the industrial base is overdue, and our model, our way of producing product, our way of investing in that product, is different than your traditional defense prime, and they need that healthy, healthy dose of competition,” Mears said.