Key points
- Drones offer stealth, strike, surveillance capabilities
- Move counters China’s Pacific military expansion
- Nuclear submarines, frigates also planned
ISLAMABAD: Australia said Wednesday it will deploy a US$1.1 billion fleet of “Ghost Shark” underwater attack drones to bolster its firepower in a “threatening” regional landscape.
Anduril has secured a A$1.7B (US$1.2B) contract to deliver a fleet of Ghost Shark XL-AUVs to the @Australian_Navy.
This is our first international Program of Record. Production is already underway. pic.twitter.com/VZDnU9TyxR
— Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) September 10, 2025
The Royal Australian Navy will arm itself with dozens of the home-developed, cutting-edge autonomous drones, with the first entering service in January, it said, reports AFP.
Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, equipping its navy with long-range strike capabilities in an effort to balance China’s expanding military might in the Pacific.
The government said it had signed a Aus$1.7 billion (US$1.1 billion) five-year contract with Anduril Australia to build, maintain and develop the extra-large, uncrewed undersea vehicles, creating 150 jobs.
“This is the highest tech capability in the world,” Defence Minister Richard Marles told a news conference, saying it would have a “very long range” as well as stealth capabilities.
Autonomous underwater military capabilities
“Australia is leading the world in terms of autonomous underwater military capabilities, and Ghost Shark is capable of engaging in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike,” he said.
That’s why @RichardMarlesMP and I announced today that we’re backing it in with a $1.7 billion investment to build a Ghost Shark fleet.
And we’ll build them right here in Australia.
Backing Australian innovation.
Backing Australian industry.
And backing Australian jobs. pic.twitter.com/wNlgfzzNgp
— Pat Conroy MP (@PatConroy1) September 10, 2025
The drones, which can be launched from shore or warships, will complement Australia’s strategic enhancements to its submarine and surface fleets, the minister said, declining to provide the exact number to be built.
“Australia faces the most complex, in some ways the most threatening strategic landscape that we have had since the end of the Second World War,” Marles said.
“All that we are doing in terms of building a much more capable Defence Force is to deter conflict and to provide for the peace and stability of the region in which we live.”
Nuclear-powered submarines
Australia aims to acquire stealthy, nuclear-powered submarines in a multi-decade 2021 AUKUS agreement with Britain and the United States.
In the United States, however, critics have questioned why Washington would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia without stocking its own military first.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has put AUKUS under review to ensure it aligns with his “America First agenda”, according to CNN.
Marles said he was confident that the “Ghost Shark” drones and future nuclear-powered submarines would provide a “fundamentally critical” military capability.
Mogami-class frigates
Last month, Australia said it would also upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, first entering service by 2030, reports AFP.
Billed as one of Japan’s biggest defence export deals since World War II, Australia has agreed to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates.
Mogami-class warships – advanced stealth frigates equipped with a potent array of weapons – are to replace Australia’s ageing fleet of Anzac-class vessels.
