CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand \u2014 Australia, as its interminable wait for nuclear-powered submarines continues, has lodged an order with Anduril Australia for a number of state-of-the-art unmanned submarines to be delivered over the coming five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Royal Australian Navy deal \u2014 announced on Sep. 10 after it was signed on Aug. 26 \u2014 encompasses a \u201cfleet\u201d of Ghost Shark extra-large unmanned underwater vehicles, or XLUUVs. The contract with Anduril Australia is worth A$1.7 billion, or about US$1.12 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to Ghost Shark production in Australia, the contract covers sustainment and further platform development. The project\u2019s speed is remarkable, going from signature to production in just three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Low-rate initial production has commenced already, with expansion to high-rate production slated for next year. Anduril Australia noted that its manufacturing facility can produce \u201clarge numbers\u201d of all-electric Ghost Sharks for Australia and allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Ghost Shark is a world-leading platform made right here in Australia,\u201d Defence Minister Richard Marles commented. \u201cOver the next five years and beyond, it will give navy the intelligence, surveillance and strike capabilities it needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Canberra has already sunk A$145 million into the Ghost Shark development program since April 2022, and Anduril Australia delivered three prototypes plus mission payload modules ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anduril explained the Ghost Shark \u201chas been engineered to carry multiple distinct mission payloads, all of which were designed and delivered as part of the R&D program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking to Defense News before the announcement dropped, Dr. Ross Babbage, CEO of Strategic Forum, said the advantage of systems like Ghost Shark lies in their deployability at scale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their development \u201chas moved very fast, much faster than most people realize,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Babbage said a large fleet of autonomous craft would \u201cchange the game\u201d in underwater warfare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCould we do it? I believe we can,\u201d he said. \u201cThe question is [whether it is] a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This announcement seems to answer that question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis achievement reflects what\u2019s possible when defence and industry work shoulder to shoulder: ideating, innovating and inspiring each other to deliver extraordinary advancements in subsea technology,\u201d noted David Goodrich, executive chairman and CEO of Anduril Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company added that the program \u201cis the direct outcome of a bold decision by the Royal Australian Navy to take on shared risk in pursuit of speed and capability.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some 42 Australian firms are already plugged into the supply chain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S.-based company claimed the Ghost Shark \u201cexceeded the highest expectations\u201d of the navy after trials concluded in June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn short, navy\u2019s vision of partnering with Anduril to create a disruptive, highly capable autonomous undersea vehicle that will complement the submarine fleet has been realized,\u201d the statement continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anduril has opened a dedicated Ghost Shark production facility in Rhode Island to serve its U.S. customer as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last year\u2019s National Defence Strategy earmarked uncrewed underwater and surface vessels as a priority for Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fact, just two days prior to Anduril\u2019s announcement, Leidos revealed on Sept. 8 that it had started constructing a Sea Archer unmanned surface vessel for Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The aluminum-hulled vessel with a 1,500-nautical-mile range can perform surveillance or even strike missions in Australia\u2019s maritime approaches.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia has lodged an order for numerous state-of-the-art unmanned submarines to be delivered over the coming five years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":120104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":45,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,160,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3492],"class_list":["post-71408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-daily-news-roundup","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"DALU5UU6YFGIVGVATIIX3QFNJI","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/asia-pacific\/2025\/09\/10\/australia-orders-fleet-of-large-unmanned-submarines-from-anduril\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n