Anduril Australia to Build Ghost Shark Factory
August 14, 2024 - Anduril Australia is building its first Australian manufacturing facility for Ghost Shark XL-AUVs.
The factory will be capable of manufacturing large numbers of Ghost Sharks for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and its allies in the Asia Pacific, as well as the commercial Dive-XL variant.
Anduril’s autonomous underwater vehicles are designed from the outset to be produced at-scale by incorporating a modular design. Then with advanced, scalable manufacturing techniques that enable rapid iteration based on specific customer needs, Ghost Shark will deliver a shift in maritime deterrence through affordable, autonomous mass.
Chief Defence Scientist, Professor Tanya Monro AC stated that the “Ghost Shark has been specifically designed for manufacturability, mass production and flexibility to create supply chain resilience.”
The Ghost Shark supply chain involves more than forty-two Australian companies and the Early Works Contract will facilitate investment into the Australian industry supply chain so it can grow and scale alongside Anduril Australia.
To accelerate production readiness of Ghost Shark, Defence and Anduril Australia have entered into a co-funded Early Works Contract. The Defence investment of A$20.1 million will be significantly exceeded by Anduril Australia as it invests in hiring, scaling the sovereign supply chain and building infrastructure to transition the Ghost Shark program from prototype to production that, subject to further government approval, will see the first production variant available by the end of 2025.
Minister for Defence Industry and Capability Delivery, the Hon Pat Conroy MP stated in his 5th August media release (Albanese Government to accelerate production readiness of Ghost Shark program), that “the Ghost Shark Early Works Contract provides a clear example of how the Albanese Government is working with Australian industry to accelerate the delivery of cutting- edge sovereign capability. Defence is incentivising industry to make substantial capital investments.”
Ghost Shark is an Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUVs) that will provide Navy with a cost-effective, stealthy, long-range, trusted undersea capability that can conduct persistent and disruptive intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and strike. Developing, manufacturing, and fielding these systems at-scale within an operationally-relevant timeline will be essential to help in defending Australia’s immense maritime boundaries.
In April, the Hon Pat Conroy MP, revealed the first Ghost Shark prototype on Sydney Harbour, was one year ahead of schedule and on-budget.
The Ghost Shark is a collaboration between the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), and Anduril Australia. The Head of ASCA, Professor Emily Hilder stated that “Ghost Shark is a powerful example of how ASCA can help accelerate capability to our warfighters, bringing together partsof the Defence enterprise as well as Anduril Australia, to help deliver an asymmetric advantage.”
The more than $180M program has been jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Anduril Australia.
Anduril has proven it is capable of agile, responsive manufacturing to support customer demand. The Australian facility joins Anduril’s growing footprint of global factories. Most recently, Anduril signaled it's intent to build Arsenal-1, a 5M sq foot manufacturing facility designed to hyperscale defense production. Anduril also recently announced the opening of its U.S Rhode Island production facility to enable Anduril to increase production to 200 Dive-LD’s per year. In addition, Anduril announced an $75 million USD investment to increase manufacturing and production capacity for solid rocket motors in Mississippi.
