Through the Ghost Shark Program, the Australian government will provide a sovereign, independent underwater capability. With funding and development coming from both Defence and Anduril Australia, Ghost Shark will become the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator’s (ASCA) Mission Zero (0). ASCA missions are chosen based only on the Defense Department’s top priorities, and a clear path from invention to capability must be established.
In order to prepare for the production of Ghost Shark, ten Australian businesses have teamed up with Anduril Australia, and 42 other Australian businesses stand to gain from the supply chain. With the help of Ghost Shark, the Navy will have a long-range, autonomous underwater warfare capability that is covert and capable of conducting continuous intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, and striking operations. It will also improve the Navy’s capacity to collaborate with partners and allies.
The Ghost Shark will form part of the 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.
The Navy will also explore the potential for synergies between Navy’s XL-AUV program and future trilateral collaboration through AUKUS Advanced Capabilities.
Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said: “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.”
Head of ASCA Professor Emily Hilder said: “ASCA missions address strategically directed priorities that focus on rapidly delivering asymmetric capabilities to Defence. The co-funded and collaborative contract between Anduril Australia and Defence is a fast and innovative way for Defence to pursue new technology that directly relates to capability needs. ASCA wants to hear from Australian companies with solutions to Defence’s biggest challenges.”
Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond said: “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.”
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 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.
