While U.S. stalls, Australia and Anduril move to put XL undersea vehicle into service

With the help of Anduril, Australia has fought to perform the US Navy: Convert an additional undersia drone under a contract in just three years from the White Board.

Anduril on Tuesday announced that “Ghost Shark”, a fleet of vehicles on its XL Anaroud Undersia, will start working under the agreement under the agreement of $ 1.7 billion (US $ 1.1 billion) in Australian water next year.

The five-year reward structure is the Holy Grail of Defense Defense; This is a record program that originally locked in the country’s defense budget to earn repeat to become a line item. The agreement for the platform, which provides remote surveillance and strike operations, cover distribution, maintenance and continued development.

It also reflects the political emergency in Australia to gain the new Indo-Pacific capacity to prevent rising threat from China.

“At the end of the day, it descended to imagine, imagine and imagine a new concept and bring it successfully. And that’s what the Australian government did,” Anduril’s President Chris Bros said in an interview. “Less people in Australia, a lot of money and the same bureaucratic challenges of our Pentagon have many of them and they have been able to perform it.”

The contrast with the United States is complete.

The only Xluuv of development, Boeing’s ORCA, is behind the schedule for several years. By comparison, Anduril and Australia co -med and jointly funded the Ghost Shark in 2022, each of which had $ 50 million. The first prototype was distributed in April 2024, twelve months before the schedule and production has already begun.

The program presents a new model for defense collection. Anduril had been in line for the time for Derrisk to be in Australia, otherwise a quick acquisition of his own capital.

Anduril is not stopping with Australia.

Maritime’s SVP, Shane Arnot says Ghost Sharks can be “missions” in the country quickly, which means that governments can plug their own payload modules as needed. Anduril has already developed a US Pedload that is being tested on the coast of California, and if any agreement is implemented, a 150,000 square feet of foot in the US to produce ghost sharks in the United States stands at a 150,000 square foot factory.

“America has an XLUV program in the United States that is fighting for a better part of a decade,” Broce said. “The Australian government and the Andurill Ghost have spent on developing the capacity of the shark and it has spent more money on that program than it is on the back. We spent more time we spent more time. We have the ability to work across more missions. We are more ready. We are more ready.”

Emergency is clear for Australia. It is the largest island country with small population and close to Western opponents. The major China among them, which quickly expanded its navy and pushed its ships deeper into the Pacific Ocean, including providing provocative drills on the coast of Australia. This pressure has made Ghost Shark a compulsory solution.