The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has reached an important milestone in the large size autonomous underwater vehicles (XL AUV) industry.
In fact, having received three prototypes developed and set up in under three years, RAN has awarded Anduril Australia a contract worth 1.7 billion Australian dollars to deliver a fleet of Ghost Sharks, with production already underway.
The Ghost Shark program is the result of a brave decision by the RAN to share the risks to increase the speed of program times and management capabilities. Rather than following traditional methods, RAN has co-developed and co-funded the Ghost Shark with Anduril, committing significant financial and bureaucratic resources, together with another 42 Australian companies.
The decision to take risks is clear: the start of full-scale Ghost Shark production marks the beginning of a new era of maritime power through reliance on artificial intelligence that manages the autonomy of new vehicles. Australia must deal with the menacing presence of hostile ships in its waters. The fleet of Ghost Shark XL AUVs will be capable of conducting coastal defense patrols, allowing RAN to achieve large-scale domain awareness that is unprecedented and based on artificial intelligence (AI).
Additionally, the program offers opportunities for other nations to develop capabilities to operate in the underwater domain with autonomous-type underwater vehicles. The collaboration between the Royal Australian Navy and Anduril has created a successful model that shows that it isn’t necessary to completely rethink the system to make progress, but creative leadership is essential. Anduril has taken a significant stake in the Ghost Shark’s development and has invested about 60 million Australian dollars in an XL AUV production plant in Australia.
Source and photo credit @Anduril
