Anduril and RAN to partner on autonomous undersea vehicles

Defence technology company Anduril Industries (Anduril) and the Australian Defence Force have announced they are entering into commercial negotiations for a US$100 million co-funded design, development and manufacturing program for Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (XL-AUVs) for the Royal Australian Navy.

Anduril says the XL-AUV will be an affordable, autonomous, long-endurance, multimission-capable AUV. It is modular, customisable and can be optimised with a variety of payloads for a wide range of military and non-military missions such as advanced intelligence, infrastructure inspection, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting. Anduril says its approach to development of the XL-AUV will deliver the vehicle at a fraction of the cost of existing undersea capabilities in radically lower timeframes.

The three-year XL-AUV development program has an ambitious delivery schedule which should involve capability assessment and prototyping in record time using Anduril’s agile capability development systems. There will be three prototypes delivered to the Royal Australian Navy over the three-year life of the program.

Anduril will design, develop and manufacture the XL-AUVs in Australia and says it will recruit, build and retain a highly skilled workforce. To support the design, development and manufacturing of the program, Anduril plans to hire dozens of employees in high-skilled roles including maritime engineering, software development, advanced manufacturing, robotics, propulsion design and mission operations. In addition, Anduril will actively partner with other Australian SMEs and the research and technology communities to source nearly all elements of the supply chain for the program.

“The XL-AUV project is a significant investment in Australian industrial capabilities,” said David Goodrich, OAM, Executive Chairman and CEO, Anduril Australia. “Through this partnership, Anduril Australia will become a major player in the thriving defence industrial base in Australia and contribute to Australia becoming a leading exporter of cutting-edge autonomous capability to the rest of the world.”

“There is a clear need for an XL-AUV built in Australia, for Australia,” added Anduril founder Palmer Luckey. “The XL-AUV will harness the latest developments in autonomy, edge computing, sensor fusion, propulsion and robotics to bring advanced capability to the Royal Australian Navy.”

“Whilst the specifications that Australia is requesting are unknown, Anduril executives have confirmed that the capabilities will include seabed mapping, as well as mine countermeasure capabilities,” said William Davies, Associate Defense Analyst at market analytics company GlobalData. “Australia has noted that these vessels are being developed as a measure to strengthen Australia’s naval capability until the arrival of nuclear submarines, indicating that they will be utilised to support Australia’s strategic goals with regards to resisting Chinese influence.”

Image credit: anduril.com