Palmer Luckey says the coolest thing about Anduril expanding is the fighter jets

Defence technology company Anduril on Thursday announced plans to significantly expand its Southern California footprint by developing a large new campus in Long Beach. In this coastal city, founder Palmer Luckey grew up.

The Long Beach expansion is expected to support roughly 5,500 jobs once fully operational. Luckey told TechCrunch that the roles will be newly created positions, rather than employees relocating from other Anduril facilities.

Anduril’s headquarters is located nearby in Costa Mesa, California, and the company also operates a large manufacturing facility in Ohio. The Long Beach campus will span approximately 1.18 million square feet across six buildings, combining office space with industrial areas focused on research and development. According to the company, the site is expected to be completed by mid-2027.

Luckey said Long Beach was a natural choice for the expansion, describing it as “a major aerospace hub right in our backyard.”

The company plans to hire a workforce similar to that at its headquarters. Roles will include manufacturing workers, technicians, assembly staff, and engineers across a range of specialities, including electrical, mechanical, and aerodynamics. Anduril also expects to add build-and-test positions, along with a substantial number of logistics roles. “The things that we’re going to be making there, we’re going to be sending all over the world,” Luckey said.

While the announcement drew attention for the thousands of jobs coming to Luckey’s hometown, he said the aspect of Anduril’s broader expansion that excites him most involves fighter jets.

“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,” Luckey said. “We might have jets leaving the factory, flying directly into combat. And I think that that is extremely cool.”

However, Anduril does not currently plan to manufacture fighter jets directly at the Long Beach campus. A company spokesperson said the site will focus on manufacturing-adjacent functions, including research and development. Actual manufacturing of aircraft will take place at Anduril’s large facility in Ohio.

Anduril develops autonomous military systems across land, air, and sea, including drones and aircraft designed for defence applications. In 2025, the company unveiled an autonomous fighter jet known as Fury. The aircraft is designed to fly without a human pilot onboard, operating instead through artificial intelligence that executes flight plans defined by human operators. Fury completed its first test flight in California on October 31.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify where Anduril’s fighter jets will be manufactured.