Anduril and C2 Robotics Can Solve Australia’s Virginia-Class Sub Nightmare
So long as its drone systems have stellar cybersecurity and can defend themselves against electronic attacks, AUKUS should abandon the costly Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine fiasco.
Dear Australia: forget the American Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines!
The dream of the Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) nuclear-powered submarine coalition is essentially dead in the water. No member of the three-nation coalition can reliably build any significant quantity of these complex submarines in an efficient time. In other words, Australia has hitched itself to a sinking program—a sunk cost of the worst kind.
A recent essay by defense expert Harry Sokoloski rightly urges the Australians, who are increasingly on the frontlines of China’s unwanted military expansion in the Indo-Pacific, to save its money by simply maintaining Canberra’s aging Collins-class submarines while purchasing a coterie of unmanned systems.
By following this prescription, Australian leaders should save the more than $13 billion they intend to spend on Virginia-class submarines that will likely never come into being. Instead, they should take the “Loyal Wingman” concept of the United States Air Force and place manned ships and submarines amongst swarms of unmanned systems—specifically, unmanned undersea vehicles such as the Ghost Shark or Speartooth. These undersea drones could easily perform the same types of missions that Australia intends to use the Virginia-class submarines, but at a fraction of the cost.
The Fearsome “Ghost Shark” Drone
Anduril Australia’s Ghost Shark XL-AUV is a cutting-edge piece of tech that has already made quite a splash in naval circles. It’s an extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XL-AUV) built in collaboration with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG), and the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA). The project was launched in May 2022 with roughly a USD $90 million investment. The goal was to deliver three prototypes within three years, with a production-ready version by the middle of this year.
The first prototype has been dubbed “Alpha,” and was rolled out last April—a full year ahead of schedule. Compare that to Boeing’s rival Orca program, which has struggled with delays and cost overruns.
Anduril Australia’s Ghost Shark is designed to be a stealthy, long-range underwater drone for the RAN. It’s built for missions like persistent intelligence collection, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). But the drone is not limited to these functions; it also has the capability to conduct strikes, giving it a multirole capability set that could prove decisive for the Australians.
What’s more, Anduril Australia developed this drone to be modular, lending to its multirole mission set. Payloads can be swapped out for different jobs: advanced intelligence-gathering, targeting, and even laying of naval mines are in the Ghost Shark’s bailiwick.
And because it doesn’t have the same limitations that manned subs have, the Ghost Shark can dive deeper than most manned submarines—a whopping 20,000 feet!—and can stay out at sea for up to ten days, covering vast distances undetected. It’s about the size of a standard school bus. And the Ghost Shark is managed by Anduril’s impressive Lattice Artificial Intelligence (AI) system, allowing it to communicate and network with other crewed and uncrewed systems in its area of responsibility.
Meanwhile, Anduril Australia has worked to incorporate 3D printing into the Ghost Shark’s design, ensuring it can be cheaply mass produced at scale. Anduril is already working on a factory in Australia to churn these systems out with wanton abandon—at the relatively cheap price of USD $12 million per unit.
Australia’s “Suicide Sub”: The Speartooth Drone
Nor are American firms the only defense contractors taking advantage of the drone revolution. C2 Robotics, an Australian-owned startup based in Melbourne’s Tullamarine, is developing the awesome Speartooth Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (LUUV).
Slightly smaller than the Ghost Shark, the Speartooth is meant to operate in tandem with the Ghost Shark, other unmanned systems, and crewed naval warships and submarines. The goal is to deliver scalable, affordable subsea capabilities that can fundamentally shift the balance of power in an engagement with China’s growing navy.
Not only can these smaller Speartooth LUUVs conduct similar mission sets as the Ghost Shark can, but they can be deployed in swarming kamikaze attacks. In other words, if Australia’s navy truly felt they could not stop a Chinese naval attack against their country or systems, fleets of cheap Speartooth drones could be used to stop that Chinese attack. It’s a real game-changer.
The first-generation Speartooth was developed in May 2022. A year later, the second generation appeared. It was a few feet longer than the original prototype. That prototype had dual payload bays placed between its nose and tail sections, amplifying its already impressive set of capabilities.
Speartooths are roughly torpedo-shaped, and powered by lithium-ion batteries. They can dive to about 6,562 feet underwater, with a range of around 1,243 miles. Notably, C2 Robotics kept costs down by using relatively cheaper, off-the-shelf technologies.
In fact, C2 Robotics’ Chief Technology Officer, Tom Loveard, expects to deploy hundreds of these drones for under $1 million each. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) thinks this technology can be used in multiple, unconventional ways. Notably, they envision deploying the Spearfish as a decoy meant to trick enemy anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities.
Australia Should Abandon the Virginia-Class Submarines
So long as these systems have stellar cybersecurity onboard and can defend themselves against forms of electronic attacks, AUKUS should abandon the costly Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarine fiasco. Washington can’t count on having enough of their own Virginia-class submarines on hand any time soon. Why should Canberra rely on them?
Instead, Australia must chart its own course. It must seize upon the advantages that unmanned systems offer at cost.
Now that Chinese naval forces are regularly interloping upon Australian territorial waters and displaying their growing power in Australian waters, time is of the essence. Deterring China nearer to their shores must be the priority. That can only be achieved by embracing the unmanned undersea vehicle revolution.
About the Author: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a Senior National Security Editor at The National Interest as well as a contributor at Popular Mechanics, who consults regularly with various government institutions and private organizations on geopolitical issues. Weichert’s writings have appeared in multiple publications, including the Washington Times, National Review, The American Spectator, MSN, the Asia Times, and countless others. His books include Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His newest book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine is available for purchase wherever books are sold. He can be followed via Twitter @WeTheBrandon.
Image: Wikimedia Commons.