Australia will not adopt Stingray Mod 1 torpedo onboard its P-8A aircraft despite comments made by the UK Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey.
“In today's trilateral meeting between the three nations, we also agreed to add lethal UK made Stingray torpedoes to the P-8 submarine hunting aircraft across all three nations,” Healey said following an AUKUS meeting in London last month.
While the UK and US will both integrate the Stingray Mod 1 aboard their P-8As - complementing the US Mk 54 Mod 0 - ADM understands that Australia is not currently planning to adopt the BAE Systems-built lightweight Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) torpedo.
Instead, ADM understands that Australia is focused on working with AUKUS partners on 'next-generation' lightweight torpedos.
The Royal Air Force (RAF) publicly committed to integrating the Stingray Mod 1 aboard their P-8As in December 2023, however, the US decision to incorporate the weapon is a new development.
Flight tests of the StingRay Mod 1 aboard UK and US P-8As are scheduled to begin in 2025.