Full Anduril R&D Tour: Matt Grimm, Co-Founder & COO

Grimm recounts Anduril's origin in a 4,900 sq ft former lost-luggage garage with mold, no bathroom, and no AC, starting with 10 employees in early 2017. The company has since scaled to ~7,000 employees across 34-35 global offices, transitioning from early R&D to full-scale production. He emphasizes hiring entrepreneurial, mission-driven people with 'can-do' attitudes as the core scaling strategy.

• •Started in 2017 with 10 employees in a moldy 5,000 sq ft garage that stored lost American Airlines luggage
• •Now at 7,000 employees across 34-35 offices globally, managing operations across 14 time zones
• •Scaling philosophy: hire entrepreneurial, mission-driven people who ask 'how do we make it work?' not 'what can go wrong?'
• •Transitioned from early R&D prototyping to ramping full-scale production on major contracts

The Ghost Shark is a fully autonomous submarine with no human operators—missions are programmed with waypoints and objectives, then executed independently. Designed in Sydney, Australia, these are now manufactured in a 75,000 sq ft Sydney facility capable of producing dozens annually, with expansion planned for Quonset, Rhode Island to serve the US market.

• •Fully autonomous submarine—no remote control, executes programmed missions with waypoints and payload drops independently
• •Designed at Anduril's Sydney office, manufactured in new 75,000 sq ft Sydney facility producing dozens per year
• •Expanding production to Quonset, Rhode Island facility for US market (Rhode Island is the heart of submarine manufacturing)
• •Will manufacture both Dive-LDs (smaller subs) and XL-UUVs at the Rhode Island location

Grimm breaks down how the four co-founders divide responsibilities: Palmer drives product innovation and serves as public spokesperson; Trey handles investor relations, marketing, and design aesthetics; Brian (CEO) acts as strategic genius mapping the global defense landscape; and Grimm oversees all operations—supply chain, production, facilities, HR, IT, security, logistics, and fielding.

• •Palmer: Product innovation, ConOps (concept of operations), and public-facing spokesperson role
• •Trey: Investor relations, marketing strategy, design aesthetics (Ohio State/NASCAR partnerships, branding)
• •Brian (CEO): Strategic vision, mapping global defense programs and competitive landscape, final decision-maker
• •Matt Grimm (COO): All operational functions—supply chain, production, fielding, sustainment, facilities, HR, IT, security, logistics

Anduril uses Faraday cage anechoic chambers to test electronic warfare capabilities like jamming and spoofing without interfering with nearby John Wayne Airport communications. These enclosed environments allow safe testing of radio frequency systems, radar, and communication protocols that would otherwise be illegal to broadcast openly.

• •Tests electronic warfare capabilities: jamming enemy drones, spoofing guidance signals, RF communication protocols
• •Faraday cage design prevents radio waves from escaping—critical since facility is 3 miles from John Wayne Airport
• •Enables testing of radars, antennas, and communication chips in clean RF environment
• •Described as 'very quiet' meditation room where 'no one can hear you scream' if something goes wrong

The metrology lab uses state-of-the-art scanners and precision robot arms to measure parts with extreme accuracy, validating that manufactured components meet engineering specifications. Engineers compare 3D CAD models against scanned physical parts to verify manufacturing techniques (casting, 3D printing, machining) produce parts within tolerance before scaling production.

• •Validates that manufactured parts meet exact engineering specifications and tolerances
• •Uses laser scanning, computer vision triangulation, and precision robot arms for measurement
• •Creates 3D scans of physical parts to compare against original CAD models
• •Critical for early R&D phases to verify manufacturing techniques before scaling production

The dev-test area is explicitly designed to break products through saltwater spray, drop testing, thermal cycling, vibration tables, and battery stress testing. This accelerates the iterative R&D process by identifying failure points early, allowing engineers to redesign before committing to expensive production tooling.

• •Saltwater spray chambers test corrosion resistance for coastal/maritime deployments
• •Vibration tables shake products to test if connectors fail or parts fracture over time
• •Thermal cycling ovens test products under extreme temperature, humidity variations
• •Battery chargers/dischargers cycle batteries to failure at different power settings to validate longevity

Anduril's 200,000 sq ft machine shop can make 'one or two of anything' using manual fabrication and CNC mills. The facility prioritizes rapid iteration over cost efficiency—engineers walk from the adjacent building to work directly with fabricators, dramatically reducing prototyping latency. Once designs are validated, production moves to more cost-effective facilities.

• •Manual shop side: welding, mills, lathes, bandsaws for custom metal fabrication of anything from driveway gates to command centers
• •CNC side: water jets, press brakes, laser cutters, and large CNCs for precise robotic cutting
• •Philosophy: Accept higher prototyping costs to eliminate vendor latency and accelerate iteration cycles
• •Example: Bolt drone frame went through 3+ iterations in-house before finalizing design for casting at scale

Grimm demonstrates how Bolt drone frames evolved through multiple iterations—engineers design, machinists cut from metal blocks, teams test and identify issues, then redesign. While CNC machining is expensive and wasteful for production, it enables rapid iteration before committing to casting molds that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and take months to create.

• •Showed 3 iterations of Bolt quadcopter frames with subtle differences in mounting angles and bracket positions
• •CNC machining from metal blocks is expensive/wasteful but enables fast iteration cycles
• •Final production uses casting (pour metal into molds) which is cost-effective but requires expensive, time-consuming tooling setup
• •In-house prototyping eliminates vendor latency: instead of waiting weeks for quotes and parts, engineers get same-day feedback

Anduril's headquarters occupies a former Los Angeles Times printing press and distribution facility for their Orange County edition. The 650,000 sq ft campus (450k + 200k buildings) includes defunct rail spurs for paper delivery, an old gas station, and loading docks. The site houses ~4,100 employees plus support staff, totaling ~2,400 people daily.

• •Former LA Times printing facility with rail spurs for paper roll delivery, now defunct
• •650,000 total sq ft campus: 450k sq ft engineering/design hub + 200k sq ft R&D building
• •~4,100 Anduril employees plus security, catering, janitorial staff = ~2,400 people on campus daily
• •Building sat fallow after print media decline and 2008 financial crisis before Anduril leased entire campus

Menace and Titan are mobile edge compute platforms that deploy AI-enabled sensors and distributed command/control nodes for soldiers in the field. Partnered with Palantir on Titan, these systems integrate with soldier-borne compute (IVAS/EagleEye AR systems) to create a lattice network of forward-deployed AI compute, communications, and security across the battlefield.

• •Menace: Mobile chassis-mounted edge compute nodes with antennas, communication protocols, and compute in the field
• •Titan: Larger, more powerful version with greater compute capacity but less mobility—different hierarchy levels
• •Partnership with Palantir brings their software onto Anduril hardware for Army program
• •Integrates with soldier-borne compute (IVAS program, EagleEye AR) to create distributed lattice network of AI-enabled battlefield systems