Anduril Industries plans to build a massive factory for military vehicles and weapons near Rickenbacker International Airport, the defense startup announced early this morning.

Why it matters: The site known as Arsenal-1 has the potential to become the biggest single job-creation project in Ohio history — and make us a hub for autonomous military technology.

State of play: Weapons production could begin as soon as July 2026 with around 300 employees to start, Anduril chief strategy officer Chris Brose said.

• The company plans to invest nearly $1 billion toward developing and growing the site.
• At full scale, Arsenal-1 would be a 5 million-square-foot facility employing 4,000 full-time workers.
• That's 1,000 more than are expected at Intel's Ohio One plant currently under construction about 20 miles away.

Context: Rickenbacker has ties to the Ohio Air National Guard. The location of Arsenal-1 grants Anduril access to a pair of 12,000-foot runways.

• Ohio is also home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.

The big picture: Similar to the Intel project, this announcement follows a nationwide search by Anduril.

• Available labor and state government enthusiasm were big factors in choosing Ohio, CEO Brian Schimpf told Axios.

Follow the money: The scale of any public incentives package is not immediately clear.

• Gov. Mike DeWine and JobsOhio, the state's private economic development corporation, will officially announce the project this morning at an event near Rickenbacker.

Between the lines: President Biden promoted the Intel plant as helping both economically and with national security as a way to avoid overseas supply chains.

• Anduril is already making a more direct link in touting the Arsenal-1 plans.

What they're saying: "America's next arsenal of democracy will be made in Ohio," Brose said.

• "We will be creating, with our partners in Ohio, something that does not currently exist in the American defense industrial base."

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Central Ohio is about to get a lot more familiar with Anduril Industries, but what is the startup and how did it get here?

The big picture: Anduril builds military and surveillance technology, producing autonomous drones, underwater vehicles, rocket motors and autonomous surveillance towers deployed at the U.S.-Mexico border.

What we're watching: The company says it plans to eventually build "tens of thousands of military systems annually" at Arsenal-1.

• Early contenders for that production include Barracuda cruise missiles and Roadrunners, jet-powered interceptors with vertical takeoff designed for air defense.

Flashback: The company was founded in 2017 by Palmer Luckey, an entrepreneur known for founding virtual reality startup Oculus VR.

• Last August, Anduril announced it had raised a whopping $1.5 billion in Series F funding at a $14 billion valuation.
• A flurry of activity followed, including the purchase of an advanced radar systems company, a Department of Defense contract and an expansion of its existing Mississippi Solid Rocket Complex.

Fun fact: The company is named after the sword of Aragorn, the legendary Lord of the Rings ranger.

Zoom out: Columbus will join Mississippi (solid rocket motors), Rhode Island (underwater tech), Texas (radar jammers and air autonomy) and Australia with regional Anduril footprints. The company is headquartered in California.

The bottom line: Anduril has promised to "rebuild the arsenal" of the U.S., claiming our nation's defense infrastructure has "failed to keep pace and adapt with the times."

• Investors think the company has cracked the government contract code.

🚀 Axios Local will launch newsletters in Pittsburgh; Kansas City, Missouri; Boulder, Colorado; and Huntsville, Alabama, with support from OpenAI. (Axios)

💉 Columbus is suing several drug companies and pharmacy benefit managers for allegedly inflating insulin prices for decades, joining Cleveland and several other states with similar suits. (WSYX-TV)

🏈 Meanwhile, Cleveland is suing the Browns for planning to move their stadium outside city limits.

• The "Modell Law" in question was used to keep the Crew in Columbus before the Haslams bought that team. (ESPN)

⚖️ Two suspects charged in a string of robberies and a deadly highway shootout with police in 2023 were sentenced in federal court yesterday. (WBNS-TV)

It's been chilly lately, but nothing like how cold it got this week in 1994.

Flashback: The coldest temperature ever recorded in Columbus was -22°F on Jan 19, 1994, preceded by 7 inches of snow.

❄️ Stunning stats: Franklin County got more than double that amount on March 8, 2008, which saw a local record of 15.5 inches.

• The biggest one-day snowfall in Ohio history was a long time ago — 30 inches recorded in Trumbull County on April 20, 1901.

👋 Alissa here. Apparently I'm not the only one who finds it perfectly acceptable to sip an iced coffee in sub-zero temperatures.

Driving the brews: I finally stopped by Hilliard's new 7Brew Coffee last week, thinking a Friday afternoon would be a slow time to visit.

• 😬 … I thought wrong.

Context: 7Brew is the country's fastest-growing restaurant chain.

• Founded in 2017, it's a drive-thru-only operation known for friendly service and countless customizable flavors.

👀 Pro tip: A server told me about the not-so-secret secret menu.

💭 My thought bubble: My iced white chocolate mocha was good ($4.95 for a medium) but nothing distinguished it from any other iced latte.

• I'm going to try something more adventurous next time. But for now, I'm sticking with Biggby Coffee, my usual spot for fun flavor combinations that opened in 2023 just a few miles down the road.

Stop by: 5:30am-10pm Sunday-Thursday. Open till 11pm Friday-Saturday.

• 4262 Cemetery Road, Hilliard, and a new location recently opened at 8380 N. High St.

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