The Commonwealth is investing $1.7 billion to acquire a fleet of Australian-designed, Australian-built Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicles (XL-AUV), the first production variant of which will be in service with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) early next year.
Announcing in a rain-swept press conference at Sydney’s Fleet Base East a five-year contract with Anduril Australia, Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australia was leading the world in terms of autonomous underwater military capabilities, with Ghost Shark capable of engaging in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike.
The Anduril contract involved the delivery, maintenance and continued development of Ghost Shark and would see ”dozens” of units built for the RAN at Anduril’s Alexandria, Sydney facility in the first tranche of the program.
“This is the culmination of three prototypes of Ghost Shark having already been built, demonstrating an exquisite capability. Ultimately, what this does is provide enormous capability for the Royal Australian Navy,” Marles stated.
“It will work in conjunction with an enhanced surface fleet, it will work with Collins-class submarines, and in the future with our future submarines, and in the process provide a much more capable and much more lethal navy.
“And I can announce that Ghost Shark will be in service with the Royal Australian Navy from next January”.
Pointing out that the Ghost Shark program began only three years ago, Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy described it as ‘a poster child‘ for speed to capability and stressed the XL-AUV’s strike capability would be at ‘extremely long distances’ from the continent of Australia.
“They can be launched from ships or from containers around the Australian mainland and this is a truly sovereign capability,” Conroy said.
“We’re also very excited about the opportunities to export to allies and like-minded countries; we’re confident we’re leading the world in this advanced, extremely large, autonomous undersea capability”.
Asked whether submarines were becoming more detectable, Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond said he’d been hearing that since qualifying in submarines 31 years ago.
“My personal belief is that the undersea battle space will continue to be increasingly contested, but ultimately it is the most opaque environment on the planet,” he said.
“I believe that our allies and partners will continue to enjoy a capability advantage in that space, provided we invest in capabilities like ghost shark and others as well as our crew systems, for years to come.”