While US stalls, Australia and Anduril move to put XL undersea vehicle into service

With Anduril’s help, Australia has done what the U.S. Navy has struggled to accomplish: transition an extra-large undersea drone from white board to under contract in just three years.

Anduril announced Tuesday that a fleet of its XL uncrewed undersea vehicle (XLUUV) “Ghost Shark” will begin operations in Australian waters next year under a massive AUS$1.7 billion (US$1.1 billion) contract.

The five-year award structure is the defense-startup holy grail; it’s a program of record that essentially locks in recurring revenue by becoming a line item in the country’s defense budget. The contract for the platform, which provides long-range, stealthy surveillance and strike operations, covers delivery, maintenance, and continued development.

It also reflects political urgency in Australia to field new capabilities in the Indo-Pacific to deter the rising threat from China.

“At the end of the day, this comes down to having seriousness, having imagination, and having will to conceive a new idea and bring it to fruition. And that’s what the Australian government has done,” Anduril President Chris Brose said in an interview. “Australia has fewer people, a lot less money, and many of the same bureaucratic challenges that our Pentagon has, and they have been able to accomplish this.”

The contrast with the United States is stark.

The only XLUUV under development, Boeing’s Orca, is years behind schedule. By comparison, Anduril and Australia co-developed and jointly funded Ghost Shark in 2022, each putting in $50 million. The first prototype was delivered in April 2024, twelve months ahead of schedule, and production has already begun.

The program presents a new model for defense procurement. Anduril put some of its own capital on the line to derisk Australia’s otherwise rapid acquisition timeline.

Anduril isn’t stopping with Australia.

SVP Of Maritime, Shane Arnott, said Ghost Shark can be rapidly “missionized in country,” meaning that governments can plug in their own payload modules as needed. Anduril has already produced a U.S. payload that is being tested off the California coast, and it has stood up a 150,000-square-foot factory in Rhode Island to produce Ghost Sharks in the U.S. if a contract materializes.

“The United States has had an XLUUV program that has been struggling for the better part of a decade,” Brose said. “It has spent a significantly greater amount of money on that program than the Australian Government and Anduril have spent developing the Ghost Shark capability, and it’s further behind. We have spent more time in, on, and under the water. We have an ability to work across more missions. We are more ready to go. We are more ready to deliver at scale, and we will do all of that at a lower price.”

For Australia, the urgency is clear. It is the largest island nation with a small population and proximity to Western adversaries. Chief among them is China, which has rapidly expanded its navy and pushed its ships deeper into the Pacific, including conducting provocative drills off the coast of Australia. That pressure has made Ghost Shark a compelling solution.