The Albanese Government will this week mark a major milestone in the development and testing of advanced undersea warfare capabilities for the Australian Defense Force (ADF) at Maritime Big Play Pacific – an AUKUS Pillar II exercise – in San Diego.
For the first time, the Government is today unveiling the development and integration of payloads into the Ghost Shark and Speartooth Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles and BlueBottle. Some of these payloads will take part in Exercise Maritime Big Play Pacific.
The modular design of these platforms allows them to operate a range of different payloads, customized to the required mission. Payload examples include the remote delivery of supply caches, sea mines and uncrewed aerial vehicles.
These technologies directly deliver on the Royal Australian Navy’s mission requirements and will contribute to enhanced undersea warfare capabilities, seabed operations, sea denial and the protection of critical undersea infrastructure.
This latest milestone builds on the testing of payloads and enabling systems with Australia’s AUKUS partners at previous iterations of Exercise Maritime Big Play over the past three years.
It also complements the announcement by AUKUS Defense Ministers in May of the first Pillar II Signature Project: developing cutting-edge payloads and enabling systems for AUKUS partners’ uncrewed undersea vehicles.
Through the 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) and Integrated Investment Program (IIP), the Albanese Government is investing up to $5.8 billion over the decade for autonomous and uncrewed undersea warfare capabilities, including $1.7 billion to acquire a new fleet of Australian‑designed and built Ghost Shark platforms for the Royal Australian Navy.
The announcement, at Anduril’s facility in New South Wales, demonstrates Australia’s growing leadership in autonomous undersea technologies and ability to translate cutting‑edge innovation into operational capability.
The advancement and design of payloads and enabling systems is a collaboration between the Royal Australian Navy, Defense Science and Technology Group, Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator and defense industry.
