Australia to Put $1B Into Underwater Attack Drones

Australia will spend more than $1 billion on building dozens of underwater attack drones, Defense Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday. The first of the stealthy, long-range Ghost Sharks will be delivered to the Australian navy in January under a five-year contract with Sydney-based Anduril Australia, Marles said. "Australia is leading the world in terms of autonomous, underwater military capabilities," he told reporters in Sydney, the AP reports.

The large, autonomous underwater vehicles would significantly boost Australia's undersea warfare capabilities, complementing a fleet of submarines powered with US nuclear technology, Marles said. The first of those submarines provided under the AUKUS partnership with the US and Britain won't be delivered to Australia until 2032. Marles would not say precisely how many Ghost Sharks would be built. But he said the Australian navy would be provided with dozens over the next five years. As an island continent and a trading nation, Australia sees the possibility of its sea routes being blocked by an enemy as a major strategic threat.

A Chinese navy flotilla conducted a live-fire exercise in the sea between Australia and New Zealand in February in what was widely regarded as a demonstration of China's growing military reach. The flotilla almost completely circumnavigated Australia. The Chinese navy rarely travels so far south. California-based Anduril Industries was contracted in 2022 to produce three Ghost Shark prototypes for the Australian navy. The Ghost Shark is designed to perform intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance roles as well as strike operations, a government statement said. Chief of Navy Vice Adm. Mark Hammond said the drones could be launched from the shore and from surface ships. "Undersea battlespace," he said, "will become increasingly congested and contested."