The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Anduril on Wednesday unveiled the first Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous undersea vehicle (XL-AUV) prototype that is being developed as part of the Australian government’s push for a sovereign autonomous undersea capability.
The stealthy, long-range XL-AUV is being designed for modularity to accommodate different mission needs including intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike.
Ghost Shark is being developed under a $140 million co-funded contract between Anduril Australia and the Australia Ministry of Defence. The contract calls for three prototype XL-AUVs within three years. David Goodrich, CEO of Anduril Australia, said delivery occurred one year ahead of schedule and that the program is fully funded to begin at-rate manufacturing in mid-2025.
Christian Brose, Anduril’s chief strategy officer, posted on LinkedIn on Thursday that delivery of the first prototype occurred one year after contract signing. He also said the Ghost Shark vessel is “in and under the water every day, getting better and smarter,” adding that the program will accelerate into large-scale production and fielding.
In addition to the RAN and Anduril, the Australia Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), and Defence Science and Technology Group are also collaborating on Ghost Shark. ASCA is focused on rapidly testing and acquiring new or commercial technologies for use by Australia’s defence forces.
“Ghost Shark is an exemplar of how Defence and Australian industry can move at speed to develop new sovereign capabilities to respond to the challenge before us,” Australian Minister of Defence Industry Pat Conroy said in a statement on Thursday. “By transitioning Ghost Shark to ASCA, a clear statement is being made about Defence’s commitment to the program.”
The Ministry of Defence said the program is part of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government investment of $7.2 billion to develop and acquire “subsea warfare capabilities and new autonomous and uncrewed maritime vehicles.” Overall, the government is spending more than $10 billion on autonomous and uncrewed systems for Australia’s defence forces.
Anduril Australia said it has 42 Australian companies working on Ghost Shark, with the goal to manufacture at scale for the RAN, and later for export to allies and partners.
Through a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Britain, Australia is also working toward acquiring a conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine capability that will initially include the purchase of three U.S. Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarines.
In the U.S., Boeing [BA] and its partner HII [HII] are developing the XL-Unmanned Undersea Vehicle for the Navy. Boeing delivered an engineering development model of the vessel in late 2023.