Ghost Shark, Anduril’s advanced Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV), has arrived in the United States for the first time. With the first Ghost Shark currently in Australia, this milestone will expand the test envelope for Ghost Shark by enabling concurrent testing on both sides of the Pacific and be available for collaboration with U.S. government partners.
Designed and built in Australia, this Ghost Shark arrived in the United States via trans-pacific flight by a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) C-17A, showcasing its rapid and agile expeditionary capabilities. The vehicle was transported to coincide with Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), one of the world’s largest maritime exercises held near the Hawaiian Islands to ensure the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.
Ghost Shark is designed to support subsea maritime missions globally. Ghost Shark is a modular, multi-purpose capability that can adapt to mission requirements, serving as an agile force multiplier. In a new era of strategic competition, a credible naval deterrent force is essential. Developing and fielding autonomous underwater capabilities at scale is critical to maintaining strategic deterrence, and Ghost Shark delivers that capability.
Recently, Anduril Australia unveiled the first Ghost Shark prototype a year ahead of schedule and on budget. Early production and testing have been crucial for rapid learning and iteration, enabling Anduril to deliver an operationally relevant capability at the speed required to defeat and deter the emergent threats. Anduril is leveraging technology from its proprietary AUV capability and its Lattice AI-powered software platform to develop Ghost Shark.
In 2022, Anduril signed a co-development contract with the Royal Australian Navy and the Defense Science and Technology Group to design and develop three ‘Ghost Shark’ XL-AUVs in three years.
Additionally, Anduril Australia is building its first Australian manufacturing facility for Ghost Shark XL-AUVs.
The factory will be capable of manufacturing large numbers of Ghost Sharks for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and its allies in the Asia Pacific, as well as the commercial Dive-XL variant.
Anduril’s autonomous underwater vehicles are designed from the outset to be produced at-scale by incorporating a modular design. Then with advanced, scalable manufacturing techniques that enable rapid iteration based on specific customer needs, Ghost Shark will deliver a shift in maritime deterrence through affordable, autonomous mass.
The Ghost Shark supply chain involves more than forty-two Australian companies and the Early Works Contract will facilitate investment into the Australian industry supply chain so it can grow and scale alongside Anduril Australia.
To accelerate production readiness of Ghost Shark, Defense and Anduril Australia have entered into a co-funded Early Works Contract. The Defense investment of A$20.1 million will be significantly exceeded by Anduril Australia as it invests in hiring, scaling the sovereign supply chain and building infrastructure to transition the Ghost Shark program from prototype to production that, subject to further government approval, will see the first production variant available by the end of 2025.
Ghost Shark is an Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUVs) that will provide Navy with a cost-effective, stealthy, long-range, trusted undersea capability that can conduct persistent and disruptive intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and strike. Developing, manufacturing, and fielding these systems at-scale within an operationally-relevant timeline will be essential to help in defending Australia’s immense maritime boundaries.
In April, the Hon Pat Conroy MP, revealed the first Ghost Shark prototype on Sydney Harbor, was one year ahead of schedule and on-budget.
The more than $180M program has been jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Anduril Australia.
Anduril has proven it is capable of agile, responsive manufacturing to support customer demand. The Australian facility joins Anduril’s growing footprint of global factories. Most recently, Anduril signaled it's intent to build Arsenal-1, a 5M sq foot manufacturing facility designed to hyperscale defense production. Anduril also recently announced the opening of its U.S Rhode Island production facility to enable Anduril to increase production to 200 Dive-LD’s per year. In addition, Anduril announced an $75 million USD investment to increase manufacturing and production capacity for solid rocket motors in Mississippi.
