Anduril’s Ghost Shark Robot Sub Surfaces Armed: Mines, Drone Swarms, and Long-Range Strike
Australia just pulled the covers off the payloads for its Anduril-built Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle. The unmanned sub can now lay up to a dozen sea mines, launch swarms of Altius loitering munitions for reconnaissance or strike, and drop supply caches on the seabed for special forces. Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy put it plainly at Anduril’s Sydney factory on October 19: “Ghost Shark has teeth now.”
The vehicle is a long-range, all-electric XL-AUV developed with Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group and the Royal Australian Navy. Production is underway at Anduril’s Sydney plant under a A$1.7 billion contract signed in September 2025 for a fleet of dozens. First units were targeted for service in early 2026. The hull is modular, fits in a standard shipping container, and can be airlifted by C-17. It runs fully autonomous on Anduril’s Lattice software once given a mission—no remote control required for the transit or the job. Continued below the vid clip
Anduril released video on October 21 of a Ghost Shark surfacing, opening its upper hatches, and launching an Altius drone from a 12-tube launcher. A second rack sits ready in the opposite bay. Australian officials have indicated a single vehicle can carry at least 24 of the drones across the two launchers. The Altius-600 family offers ranges in the hundreds of miles depending on configuration; the armed versions carry roughly nine-pound warheads. Conroy also confirmed the mine and logistics options. Anduril Australia CEO David Goodrich has noted the large payload bays can support heavyweight and lightweight torpedoes as well, though that remains under development.
The baseline Dive-XL that Ghost Shark is built on lists more than 2,000 nautical miles of range and about 11.4 cubic meters of payload volume. One version is described around 11 meters long for container deployment; a larger configuration stretches toward 17 meters. The flooded-hull design keeps weight and cost down while sealing critical systems. It launches from a wharf, a relatively small ship, or forward-deployed by air. Endurance is measured in days underwater without surfacing for most of the mission.
1/ 🌊🔗 👻 Anduril also shared footage of the Ghost Shark unmanned underwater vehicle laying mines on the seabed. https://t.co/9mWyZVudMX
— Emiraa Air – Sea Defence (@DenizEmiraa) October 22, 2026
The United States is already involved. In March 2026 the Defense Innovation Unit and the U.S. Navy selected Anduril’s Dive-XL for the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform (CAMP) effort to prototype and field XL-AUVs. Anduril is running long-duration demonstrations and already operates multiple Dive-XL vehicles in U.S. waters. One Ghost Shark unit was ordered for the U.S. Navy. Shared payloads sit inside AUKUS Pillar II, with testing planned alongside American and British systems in exercises such as Maritime Big Play Pacific off San Diego. Anduril has a production footprint in Rhode Island ready to scale if the U.S. Navy moves beyond prototyping.
This is the speed traditional programs rarely match. Concept to production contract in three years, factory open, hulls rolling off the line. Boeing’s Orca XL-AUV, by contrast, has lagged for years. Ghost Shark’s modular sections let the same basic hull take sensors for persistent ISR, mines to close a strait, or aerial drones that force an adversary to fight above and below the surface at once. In the Pacific, where distance and numbers matter, a fleet of these can be forward-based or airlifted without tying up a manned submarine for every task. They complement the Collins-class boats Australia already runs and the Virginia-class nuclear submarines expected later under AUKUS. They do not replace them. They give commanders more options and fewer sailors in the highest-risk water.
Anduril’s own posts and the Australian government’s disclosures make the operational picture clear: the Ghost Sharks are in production, the payloads are no longer classified, and testing is active. The same company that is building them for Australia is now under contract to show the U.S. Navy what the platform can do at scale. Drone warfare has moved from the air and the surface into the undersea domain. The Ghost Shark is the concrete version of that shift—affordable enough to risk, long-legged enough to matter, and now armed.
— The Whatfinger News Team: Sgt R, Sgt K, with Grok on edits
From New York Post: The Australian Navy is testing a futuristic underwater drone known as a “Ghost Shark,” a stealthy unmanned submersible, which can travel long distances. The submarines are anticipated to be used in both surveillance and strike missions. The Guardian reports that the Australian government has already committed $1.7 billion to manufacturer Anduril Industries to create “dozens” of the futuristic subs.
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