President Donald Trump announced a new multi-billion-dollar investment to build a manufacturing facility for components for submarines in Baltimore on Tuesday.The announcement came as the president has sought to tout manufacturi ng and investments, in his broader economic message, in a campaign push ahead of the midterm election.RELATED STORY | Hegseth announces a new drone command and cuts to 20% of generals in 'State of the Force' speechThe U.S. Navy and Anduril Industries together announced a $6.6 billion investment to build a new facility in Baltimore County to manufacture critical components for the Virginia-class submarine. Anduril is a defense contractor leaning on autonomy and AI.This delivers on President Trumps promise to bolster Americas defense industrial base while revitalizing our manufacturing industry, creating over 13,000 direct and indirect jobs and driving $2 billion in annual economic output, Anna Kelly, White House principal deputy press secretary, said.Maryland's Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, who helped negotiate the new investment and construction, was originally expected to speak at the event. But a spokesman for Moore said the White House blocked him from speaking.Moore gave the following statement:"This is a deal that we helped bring. This is going to be the largest private investment that we have seen in over a decade inside the state of Maryland. It's bringing 3,100 jobs. We are very proud of the fact that we have been working with them for over a year to bring them on board and we're excited about what it's going to mean for the area. But if the President of the United States wants to bring the circus into town and tell me that I'm not allowed to speak about the fact that we were the ones that helped bring the deal, then I will let the circus be conducted while I go back to the work of the people of Maryland."White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly later said Moore "boycotted" the event."Governor Moore was graciously invited to attend the Presidents announcement as a guest. The White House worked extensively with his staff and security team to facilitate," Kelly said. "Now, I guess he boycotted the event entirely because he wants to make this $6.6 billion investment, which will create thousands of sorely needed jobs in his state, about himself."RELATED STORY | Iran war has cost the US more than $38B, budget office saysAnduril is expected to invest around $3.7 billion for the 2 million square foot facility to stand it up, build the workforce and equip it with technology, according to the company's chief strategic officer, Chris Brose. Its expected to create 3,100 direct jobs and 11,000 indirect jobs.This is not about, you know, taking food off the plate of anybody. This is about putting more food on the table and being able to meet the requirements that our country has to produce more submarines, Brose said.The administration has sought to boost the nations defense industrial capacity, particularly maritime capacity. There are currently 26 Virginia-class submarines with two more expected to be added in the spring, according to a senior administration official. The plans would add 9 million hours of labor a year, according to an official.That would be the equivalent of about a 15 percent increase, and so that would be directly translatable to the Virginia-class submarine production. So you know, just in terms of the pure capacity that it brings, it would absolutely translate to increased Virginia submarine production, the senior administration official said.RELATED STORY | Trump says his planned arch would become a 'military complex' able to host drones and snipersWhile Brose says it will play out over the coming years, the company expects to move straightforward components like torpedo tubes in its California facility being stood up.Our goal is to help produce more of those types of systems and then, over time as the yard comes online in Baltimore, scale up to larger modules, larger ship sections and for us this is being done in partnership with our traditional shipbuilders who are phenomenal partners and phenomenal builders of these systems; they just need help in terms of capacity, Brose said.The torpedo tubes will help speed up production of current Virginia-class submarines, according to a senior administration official.Theyre going to start with these critical components, prove that they meet the quality standards, prove that theyre safe to submerge with human lives on board and hold the pressure boundary, and then theyll move on to increasingly complex assemblies, said the official.The facility will be dubbed Arsenal-2 but wont come online for a couple of years, according to an industry official, who noted the shipyard will be focused on the Virginia-class submarine program, though there are other things it would be capable of building. Those are bridges we can cross in the future, the official said. ...read more read less