Anduril Australia, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) and Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) have announced that the Ghost Shark program is ahead of schedule and on budget, with an unveiling of the first Ghost Shark manufactured prototype.
Anduril stated that this was a momentous advancement in the $140M co-development contract to design and develop the three 'Ghost Shark' extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles (XL-AUV) in three years in Australia.
The company describes Ghost Shark as a modular, multi-purpose capability that can flexibly respond to the Australian Defence Force's mission requirements, creating an agile force multiplier for Defence.
As Anduril moves to deliver an operationally relevant capability within a fraction of traditional defence timelines, early creation and testing of the first Ghost Shark has been critical for rapid learning and iteration.
"Moving at the speed of relevance is Anduril's signature. For Ghost Shark, we have assembled a unique high-powered engineering team of 121 people from the best-of-Australia, across tech, resources and defence, to fuel this progress," said Dr Shane Arnott, Senior Vice President Engineering, Anduril Industries.
"We have 42 Australian companies currently working on Ghost Shark, which is being designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia. We plan to manufacture at scale in Australia for the Royal Australian Navy, and then for export to our allies and partners around the world. Using novel scaled agile development techniques, we are combining both tech and defence sector development practices - and it's paying big dividends.
Defence stated that Ghost Shark will provide Navy with a stealthy, long-range autonomous undersea warfare capability that can conduct persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike, and enhance Navy’s ability to operate with allies and partners.
The program is being jointly developed and funded by a partnership between Defence and Anduril Australia, and will become Mission Zero (0) for the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA).
“Ghost Shark is an exemplar of how Defence and Australian industry can move at speed to develop new sovereign capabilities to respond to the challenges before us," said Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry.
“By transitioning Ghost Shark to ASCA, a clear statement is being made about Defence’s commitment to the program. ASCA is focussed on speeding up the transition of innovation into capability that will give our Australian Defence Force an edge, while creating more jobs for Australians commercialising the technology.”
The Ghost Shark will form part of the government’s investment of up to $7.2 billion for the development and acquisition of subsea warfare capabilities and new autonomous and uncrewed maritime vehicles.
Navy will also explore the potential for synergies between Navy’s XL-AUV program and future trilateral collaboration through AUKUS Advanced Capabilities.
“ASCA missions address strategically directed priorities that focus on rapidly delivering asymmetric capabilities to Defence,” said Professor Emily Hilder, Head of ASCA.
“The co-funded and collaborative contract between Anduril Australia and Defence is a fast and innovative way for Defence to pursue new technology that directly relates to capability needs. ASCA wants to hear from Australian companies with solutions to Defence’s biggest challenges.”