Money Grab/Give government contracts to family and donors
Navy puts $900M into Hadrian’s submarine factory after Don Jr.‘s fund invested $391M
On March 20, 2026, the Navy announced that Hadrian had opened a 2.2-million-square-foot factory in Cherokee, Alabama, to mass-produce submarine components, funded by a $900 million Navy investment of One Big Beautiful Bill Act money alongside $1.5 billion in private capital. Two months earlier, Donald Trump Jr.‘s fund had put in $391 million.
What happened
Hadrian builds automated factories for precision parts. On March 20, 2026, the Navy announced the opening of Hadrian’s 2.2-million-square-foot “Factory of the Future” in Cherokee, Alabama, which is to mass-produce components for Virginia- and Columbia-class submarines so that the shipyards in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Virginia can concentrate on assembling the boats.
The Navy is putting in $900 million from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and private investors put in $1.5 billion. Three days earlier the Army had given Hadrian a $39.2 million contract, its first public award.
In October 2026, ABC News reported that 1789 Capital, the venture fund where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner, had invested $391 million in Hadrian in early 2026, roughly two months before the Navy money and the Army contract. Hadrian did not respond to ABC’s questions. The $900 million is taxpayer money, not family cash.
Who benefited
Hadrian and its investors, including 1789 Capital and through it Donald Trump Jr., gained a $900 million federal anchor investment announced by the Secretary of the Navy. For a defense startup, an anchor of that size sets the valuation for years.
Who wanted something
The Navy is far behind on submarine production and has adopted “distributed shipbuilding” as its answer. Hadrian wants to be the company that supplies it. The Alabama delegation wanted the jobs.
Who lost out
The established suppliers were not chosen. The public cannot tell from the outside whether a company that had never held a government contract until the $39.2 million Army award was picked for its machines or for its investors.
Why it matters
A fund the president’s son helps run put $391 million into a company, and within two months the government put in $900 million. The factory may be a good one. The sequence, family-linked investment followed by federal money, is among the largest in the record.
Sources U.S. Navy (primary)Department of War (primary)ABC News