Unmanned prototype stealth sub ‘a game-changer’

The prototype for a ‘game-changing’ unmanned Australian submarine designed to undertake stealth missions has been unveiled at a top-secret ceremony in Sydney.

The 5.8m-long Dive-LD autonomous submarine is unveiled at a secret location on Sydney Harbour. Picture: Liam Mendes

The prototype for a “game-changing” unmanned Australian submarine designed to undertake stealth missions throughout the Indo-Pacific has been unveiled at a top-secret ceremony in Sydney.

The first underwater vehicle, Dive-LD, is capable of spending up to 10 days under water to a depth of 6000m and will be used to test systems that will eventually feature in three larger autonomous submarines designed and manufactured in Australia over the next three years.

Those school bus-sized autonomous submarines will “create uncertainty in the minds of potential adversaries” and “deter illegal and coercive behaviour”.

The test vehicle for the program, dubbed “Ghost Shark”, was unveiled at a secret location on Sydney Harbour. Attendees were transported by water taxi and closely watched upon arrival, with guests asked to remove location-specific metadata on images captured on phones.

The arrival of the vehicle, never before deployed outside the US, is a major step forward in a $140m partnership between the Royal Australian Navy, Defence Science and Technology Group and Anduril Australia.

The program was described as “stealthy and lethal” by navy capability Rear Admiral Pete Quinn, who said the submarines were a “game changer” for Australia’s defence capabilities.

The range, stealth and persistence would allow the Ghost Shark vehicles to operate undetected through the Indo Pacific, he said.

“Our adversaries will need to assume that their every move in the maritime domain is subject to our surveillance and that every XL-AUV (extra large autonomous undersea vessel) is capable of deploying a wide range of ­effects, including lethal ones.

“Once our potential adversaries understand what a Ghost Shark is – not that we’re going to give them any specifics at all – I ­expect it will generate doubt and uncertainty,” he said.

Rear Admiral Quinn said the Ghost Shark XL-AUV could swap in and swap out sensors and payloads for different missions.

“From a defence capability, an adversary not knowing what payloads we might be carrying creates doubt and uncertainty,” he told The Australian.

Commodore Darron Kavanagh at the unveiling of the 5.8m long Dive-LD autonomous submarine at a secret location on Sydney Harbour.

“With the advances that will be achieved through the Ghost Shark program, we’ll be able to undertake the dull, dirty, dangerous missions using autonomous and uncrewed systems, safeguarding our personnel and freeing up our crewed submarines for more complex missions, where human decision making is absolutely essential.

“(As) nations and organisations capitalise on improved access to, and move to occupy, the subsea domain, it is rapidly becoming the new frontier of military exploitation.”

Anduril Asia Pacific chief executive David Goodrich said the arrival of the Dive-LD three months ahead of schedule would allow for accelerated development of the larger XL-AUV program. He said the Dive-LD would test critical subsystems that the XL-AUV would require, such as navigational, power and more classified technologies, allowing for a daily turnaround of design and testing phase cycles.

“Most people are aware there is an increased activity in the water­ways that surround our nation … we need autonomous capabilities to be able to disrupt that affect to stop our adversaries from bringing very large and very exquisite manned capabilities into our waterways.”