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Ghost Shark XL-AUV

Undersea warfare is critical to success in the Pacific and other contested environments, providing needed autonomous underwater sensing and payload delivery in dispersed, long-range, deep and contested environments is key. Crewed submarines are high-value, high-resource capital platforms necessary for crucial combat missions. The military requires a fleet of Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (LDUUVs) with diverse capabilities. One of the critical capability areas of the LDUUV effort is the need for long-endurance undersea craft that can deliver payloads and effectors against adversaries for Subsea and Seabed Warfare (SSW) as well as Undersea Warfare (USW) scenarios.

Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous undersea vehicle [XL-AUV] is a modular, multi-purpose capability that can flexibly respond to the Australian Defence Force’s mission requirements, creating an agile force multiplier for Defence. Ghost Shark will provide Navy with a stealthy, long-range autonomous undersea warfare capability that can conduct persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike. It will also enhance Navy’s ability to operate with allies and partners. The vessels will provide militaries with a persistent option for the delivery of underwater effects in high-risk environments, complementing existing crewed ships and submarines, as well as other future uncrewed surface vessels.

This extra large autonomous undersea combat-ready drone is capable of doing intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance and, importantly, delivering strike. So it has the ability to be fitted with weapons to deter potential aggressors. A lot of the research is going into the algorithms, like autonomous vehicles as well, where they can have full autonomy, so you can set a mission parameter, and they go away and do that. Australian successes in developing autonomous air (Ghost Bat) and undersea (Ghost Shark) systems have paved the way for a land equivalent – likely as aptly named.

The Ghost Shark will form part of the Albanese 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. The Government is spending more than $10 billion on autonomous and uncrewed systems, including armed systems, as part of a comprehensive plan to provide the ADF with capabilities it needs to meet strategic circumstances. Navy will also explore the potential for synergies between Navy’s XL-AUV program and future trilateral collaboration through AUKUS Advanced Capabilities.

Pat Conroy, Defence Industry Minister, said "I'm a big fan of the Terminator series, and obviously the rise of Skynet is something that I grew up on. I'd say a couple of things. One is there's International Law that governs how these things are deployed and operated, and we always act in accordance with International Law. And secondly, a lot of the high-tech software work is going into how to make them safe, how to operate them safely, how to make sure they work safely in congested sea lanes where there's a lot of civilian traffic. So, it's an area where people are given a lot more thought to."

Naval and maritime experts from the across the globe gathered in Sydney from November 7 to 9 for the Indo-Pacific 2023 International Maritime Exposition, the largest conference of its kind in the southern hemisphere. Chief of the Defence Force General Angus Campbell delivered the keynote address and highlighted the importance of the maritime domain in the context of both enduring and emerging environmental circumstances. “The oceans are our life blood. The sea shapes us, feeds us, constrains us and plays a crucial role in regulating our planet’s climate and weather. It is absolutely central to economic prosperity and national security,” General Campbell said. “The future of sea power lies not only in crewed surface and sub-surface vessels, but also in uncrewed and autonomous systems. “Australia is already well along the path of developing its own uncrewed sea power capabilities through the Ghost Shark autonomous underwater vehicle program.”

This was only the beginning of Anduril’s efforts to support critical maritime missions. As demonstrated in Australia with the signing of a co-development partnership alongside the Royal Australian Navy and the Defence Science and Technology Group on Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (XLAUV), Anduril is committed to advancing distributed maritime operations through large and extra-large autonomous subsurface capabilities.

The name - Ghost Shark - was revealed on 12 December 2022 at Anduril Australia, which is collaborating with Navy and Defence Science and Technology Group on the project. The collaboration was made possible by the Next Generation Technologies Fund. Defence scientists, Navy personnel and Anduril robotics specialists will work together under a co-funded arrangement to produce three prototypes of the extra-large autonomous underwater vehicles. The ceremony in Sydney featured a US-made ‘Dive-LD’ autonomous submarine, which will be the testbed vehicle for the development of the vessels. Head of Navy Capability Rear Admiral Peter Quinn said the stealthy, multi-role vessels, typically between 10 and 30 metres long, represented a new undersea warfare capability for Navy.

The common names of chimaera — ghost shark and ratfish — come from their big, reflective eyes and rat-like, tapered bodies. The genus name Chimaera comes from the Greek mythological fire-breathing creature that has three heads — the head of a lion at the front, a goat's head that extends from its back and a serpent tail that ends with the head of a snake. Evolutionarily, these chimaeras are among some of the oldest lineages of fishes with the lineage going back 300-400 million years.

Chimaeras are cartilaginous fishes that are related to sharks but distinguished by several differences, including having only one gill on either side of the body. Inhabitants of deep water, chimaeras can grow more than six feet long depending on the species. Their eyes are backed with a reflective tissue layer that makes them seem to glow in the dark, contributing to an eerie—even ghostlike—appearance. The elusive deep-sea creature is a cartilaginous fish in the order of the oldest fishes alive today, Chimaeriformes. These ancient fish are distant relatives of sharks and rays. Chimaeras inhabit the continental slopes and ocean ridges of the deep sea. Found at depths below 1,640 feet (500 meters), these ghostly individuals lurk in dark waters, feeding on bottom-dwelling animals such as crustaceans, mollusks and worms.

The $140M co-development contract between RAN, DSTG and Anduril to design and develop the three ‘Ghost Shark’ extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles (XL-AUV) in three years in Australia. The company's got skin in the game. They've put in over $70 million and Defence has already put in over $70 million. On 18 April 2024, Anduril, the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA) and Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) unveiled the first Ghost Shark manufactured prototype and announce that the Ghost Shark program is ahead of schedule and on budget. 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. It's been delivered a year ahead of schedule and on budget, which is pretty remarkable.

The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) selected three companies — Oceaneering International, Kongsberg Discovery, and Anduril Industries — to develop and prototype large undersea drones for the US Navy. The U.S. Navy selected Anduril to develop large AUVs for distributed, long-range, persistent underwater sensing and payload delivery in contested environments.

David Goodrich OAM, Executive Chairman and CEO Anduril Australia said: “The timeline we set to design and produce three Ghost Sharks in three years in Australia, by Australians for the ADF, was extremely ambitious. I am excited to report that we are ahead of schedule and, importantly for a Defence program, we are on budget. We're moving incredibly quickly on this program in lockstep with our ASCA, DSTG and the RAN partners. The strategic leadership and innovation insights provided by Prof Tanya Monro, Prof Emily Hilder and Vice Admiral Mark Hammond are key to our success,” said Mr Goodrich.

Dr Shane Arnott, Senior Vice President Engineering, Anduril Industries said: “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. “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. Ghost Shark is a program that we as Australians can be very proud of,” said Dr Arnott.

Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy: “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. 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.”

Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond: “This collaboration combines Navy’s expertise, ASCA’s speed to delivery, Defence’s scientific smarts and Anduril Australia’s experience in agile innovation. We are a nation girt by sea, and the Ghost Shark is one of the tools we are developing for the Navy to patrol and protect our oceans and our connection to the world.”

Chief Defence Scientist Prof Tanya Monro AC : "Delivering the first Ghost Shark prototype ahead of schedule sets a new standard for capability development at the speed of need. Ghost Shark is already well ahead of its three-year development schedule. The Ghost Shark program is delivering 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 – this is how we deliver advanced asymmetric capability. DSTG is contributing its own pathfinding technologies into the Ghost Shark’s powerful capability, as well as design and development expertise for key systems and payloads."

Head of the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), Prof Emily Hilder: "Ghost Shark is a real living exemplar of the approach we are taking within ASCA to deliver advanced asymmetric capabilities that have a two-to-three-year development horizon. We have created an incredibly integrated team for Ghost Shark with DSTG and ASCA team members working alongside with Navy and Anduril – each of us bringing our unique expertise and experience what is ASCA Mission Zero. The only way we’ll succeed at pace is if we do this together."

Only Defence’s highest priorities are used to select ASCA missions and there must be an identified pathway for the innovation to transition to capability. Ghost Shark came about as an idea in the middle of 2022, between the technology company Anduril, which is a software company, principally, and the Defence Science and Technology Group and the Navy. Anduril excels in producing Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven, autonomous, software powered platforms for multi-domain counter intrusion, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and detect-defeat CONOPs. Ten Australian companies partnered with Anduril Australia to be ready for the manufacture of Ghost Shark, and there are 42 Australian companies who stand to benefit in the supply chain.

Anduril was in a hyper growth period, rapidly scaling from concept in 2017 to, in 2020, generating over $100 million in revenue. Anduril was now poised to become the third startup to cross “the valley of death” and break into the traditional defense market, while reaching a billion-dollar valuation. The intersection of technology, corporate needs, and national security has become an increasingly relevant investment market over time, but it’s also an arena where money simply isn’t enough. Access, knowledge, connections, and often security clearances, are needed.