The US has welcomed the arrival of the Ghost Shark Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) for military testing.
The vessel was delivered to the country via transatlantic flight aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster III.
Ghost Shark developer Anduril Industries wrote that the milestone is part of a broader objective to simultaneously evaluate the Ghost Shark’s performance on both sides of the Pacific.
Related assessments will coincide with the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), a biennial multinational exercise that will be held near the Hawaiian Islands this year.
The first Ghost Shark prototype will undergo similar tests in Australia.
Australia’s Ghost Shark Program
Anduril’s Ghost Shark XL-AUV is a response to the Australian Defence Force’s goals to expand its undersea presence in the Indo-Pacific.
In May 2022, Canberra awarded the California-based company a $100-million contract to produce three of the drones for the Royal Australian Navy.
Anduril then unveiled the early Ghost Shark prototype seven months later at its satellite center in Sydney.
In August 2024, the Australian government announced a further $26 million in investment to expedite the Ghost Shark initiative’s prototyping to production work.
Concurrently, the firm revealed the construction of its first Australian factory dedicated to the XL-AUV program.
“The National Defence Strategy identified uncrewed undersea warfare capabilities as a critical capability for the Australian Defence Force,” Anduril said in its latest press release.
“The advances in this program help address a capability need as well as potentially providing a fleet of low-cost multi-role autonomous vehicles to complement and enhance the current submarine and surface force.”
“This additional Ghost Shark is an example of Anduril investing its own funds in R&D, to cut development timelines and move faster than traditional industry, avoiding the delays and cost overruns typical of cost plus contracts.”
Combining With Manned Assets
The Australian Ministry of Defence noted during the Ghost Shark contract’s awarding in 2022 that the resulting systems will deploy to “complement and enhance the agility and potency of the Navy’s current submarine and surface combatant force.”
Currently, the nation is engaged in the production of new nuclear-powered submarines and the modernization of its existing Collins-class diesel-electric submarines.
For surface fleets, Canberra is continuously increasing its light and heavy littoral maneuver landing craft as well as its Evolved Cape-class patrol vessels.