Ghost Shark with teeth: Australia unveils underwater drone payloads

SINGAPORE — Australia has unveiled new underwater warfare payloads for its unmanned naval drones, some of which will be tested at the ongoing AUKUS Pillar II exercise in the US, according to the Australian Department of Defence.

The modular payloads will be integrated onto Anduril’s Ghost Shark and C2 Robotics’ Speartooth unmanned underwater vehicles as well as Ocius’s Bluebottle unmanned surface vessel (USV), the Australian DoD said in an announcement. The payloads will be used to remotely deliver supply caches, sea mines and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

“These technologies directly deliver on the Royal Australian Navy’s mission requirements and will contribute to enhanced undersea warfare capabilities, seabed operations, sea denial and the protection of critical undersea infrastructure,” said the Australian announcement. 

The unveiling of the payloads comes five months after AUKUS partners Australia, the US and United Kingdom announced the signing of an agreement on the development of payloads for UUVs. 

The payloads were unveiled at Anduril Australia’s facility in Sydney, where Australian Minister for Defence Industry Pat Conroy said that the minelaying module would be able to deploy 12 mines. Meanwhile, the UAV module payload can deploy Anduril’s Altius strike and reconnaissance UAV, he said.

“The Ghost Shark now has teeth and will have the ability to inflict damage on any potential adversary,” Conroy added.

Some of the payloads will be deployed during the ongoing Exercise Maritime Big Play Pacific in the US, per the announcement. An earlier Australian DoD release explains, “Maritime Big Play exercises help AUKUS partners develop common, open standards to speed up adoption of new technology and improve cooperation on complex missions.”

Separately, Conroy also revealed at Monday’s unveiling that the Ocius Bluebottle USV for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) will be integrated with a “thin-lined towed array sonar” that can be used for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW).

RAN chief Vice Adm. Matt Buckley said at the media conference that the development of the payload modules was “an important investment in autonomous and uncrewed maritime systems” and allows the RAN flexibility to adapt to different missions and requirements in the future. 

“Given the vastness of our maritime geography, the ability to rapidly deliver uncrewed systems adds numbers to our fleets and complements our crews, ships and submarines.”