New photographs from Anduril Australia’s Sydney factory provide the first public view inside the payload bay of the Royal Australian Navy’s Ghost Shark extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle (XL-AUV), showing how its modular architecture is intended to support different missions. The images appeared alongside Australia’s disclosure of three payload concepts: mine delivery, seabed supply caches and the launch of aerial drones.
According to The War Zone’s report, the mine module is designed to deploy up to 12 sea mines. Another payload, under development by Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group, is intended to leave supply caches on the seabed for later retrieval. The third would launch Anduril ALTIUS aerial vehicles for reconnaissance or strike missions.
The payload bay is central to the vehicle’s stated flexibility. The report describes a design with replaceable nose and tail sections and an expandable middle section, allowing the underlying platform to be configured with different-sized modular hull sections and mission systems.
The capability remains at the development and testing stage. The cylindrical spacers visible inside the displayed vehicle appear to be made from plywood or a similar material, but the report says it is unclear whether they are trial ballast or part of a mock-up. The specific ALTIUS variant and the launch capsules that would carry the aircraft have not been publicly disclosed.
Breaking Defense reported that Australia plans to integrate the modular payloads across Ghost Shark, C2 Robotics’ Speartooth uncrewed underwater vehicle and Ocius’s Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessel. Some payloads are due to feature in Exercise Maritime Big Play Pacific, an AUKUS Pillar II activity in the United States.
The available reporting identifies Ghost Shark as autonomous, but does not establish how operators will control navigation, payload release or launched aircraft. The disclosures therefore establish planned mission functions rather than demonstrated autonomous employment or operational deployment.