Australian navy to soon operate ‘ghost shark’ submarine drones linked to billionaire Donald Trump backer

A fleet of lethal undersea drones powered by artificial intelligence will begin operating from Australia early next year, with the Albanese government announcing plans to build dozens of “Ghost Shark” submarines locally to counter rising regional threats.

US owned defence company Anduril, founded by pro-Trump tech billionaire Palmer Luckey, has been awarded a $1.7 billion contract to produce an unspecified number of its stealthy, long-range and autonomous vehicles in Sydney.

Unveiling the deal at Sydney’s Garden Island Naval base on Wednesday, Defence Minister Richard Marles hailed the Ghost Shark as a “world-leading platform made right here in Australia”.

“Over the next five years and beyond the Ghost Shark will equip Navy with the intelligence, surveillance and strike capabilities it needs in an increasingly complex strategic environment.”

The Albanese government is not publicly revealing how many Ghost Shark submarines are being ordered but has confirmed “dozens” will be built here over the next five years, which it claims will support 120 existing jobs and create more than 150 new positions.

“An exquisite capability which has been designed, developed, prototyped and now being manufactured here in Australia — ultimately what this does is provide enormous capability to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN),” Mr Marles said.

Over recent months defence industry figures have told The Nightly of numerous teething problems with the advanced Anduril technology, but the government insists concerns raised during sea trials of the Ghost Shark have now been addressed.

Since 2022, the Ghost Shark has been under joint development between Anduril Australia and the defence department, with the government committing $140 million to date on its design, testing as well as to develop potential concepts of operation.

Specific dimensions and mission capabilities of the modular Ghost Shark design are being closely guarded, but the box-shaped vehicle is roughly 2 metres high and wide, and about 6 metres long in standard form.

Asked how Australia’s technology compared to Chinese capabilities displayed during last week’s military parade in Beijing, Mr Marles responded: “we are really confident in standing here today and saying that Ghost Shark is the best underwater autonomous military capability on the planet”.

Australia’s Navy Chief, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond also acknowledged the unmanned platform would help address difficulties in attracting and retaining personnel to crew submarines.

“We’re seeing increasing improvements in recruiting and attraction, and I personally believe that systems like this are going to attract a lot of young Australians to want to be part of the future hybrid capability workforce that exists in the Royal Australian Navy with crewed and uncrewed systems”.

“It can operate from ashore. It can operate from surface vessels, so therefore it can be deployed forward, and it can be deployed at long range from the Australian bases, the Vice Admiral and former submariner told reporters.

Anduril Australia CEO David Goodrich predicted the Ghost Shark would “continue to evolve, as it must, with new payloads, new weapons, smarter autonomy and adapting to the emerging threats”.

Ghost Shark could also potentially address looming capability gaps caused by the delayed Life of Type Extension program for Australia’s ageing Collins class boats, and lingering doubts over the arrival of US Virginia-class submarines from early next decade.

The defence minister said the new Ghost Shark drones would complement and work in conjunction with the nuclear-powered boats Australia intends to acquire under the AUKUS partnership from 2032.

“Nations will need to have an entire mass underwater military capability, and that’s what Ghost Shark represents. But we will also need very much a long-range capable submarine in the future, and I’m really confident that that is what we are developing under the banner of AUKUS.”

Earlier this year the arrival of a Chinese Naval Task Force caused significant headaches for the Defence Force which struggled to properly track the warships as they travelled around Australia and conduced live-firing drills in the Tasman Sea.

In a statement manufacturer Anduril declared that the entry of its Ghost Shark platform into full production less than three years after its conception marked “the start of a new era of seapower through maritime autonomy” and flagged possible overseas exports.

“For years, Australia has faced the persistent and threatening presence of Chinese naval assets in its home waters” the company said, while boasting its product “can directly address this challenge through coastal defence patrols”.

“The program opens the door for other nations to follow suit — such as the United States and its allies — in deploying autonomous seapower at relevant scale with unprecedented affordability, against a relevant timeframe, and through clear operational concepts”.

Since being launched in 2017, Anduril has been valued at over $46 billion, and is continuing to pressure established defence company rivals by developing autonomous, AI-powered weapons which can be rapidly improved via software updates.

As a teenager founder Palmer Luckey invented the Oculus VR technology which he sold to Meta in 2014 for over $3 billion and claims to have urged Donald Trump to run for politics as far back as 2011.