Australia’s Ghost Shark submarines can launch up to 12 sea mines and unleash “swarms” of kamikaze drones, according to “previously secret” details released by the federal government.
The fully-autonomous stealth submarine is being jointly developed by the Navy and weapon maker Anduril.
One of the country’s most advanced projects, it is designed to be deployed quickly for both deep sea warfare and supporting special forces missions.
Making public the Ghost Shark’s deadly capabilities on Monday, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy hailed it as giving the Navy “greater deterrence”.
“Ghost Shark now has teeth, and will have the ability to inflict damage on any potential adversary,” he said.
Footage released by Anduril showed a Ghost Shark launching Altius drones – autonomous aircraft capable of gathering intelligence in addition to striking targets.
Like the submarine, Altius drones rely on Anduril’s Lattice system, which detects, classifies and tracks potential threats in real time without needing a human to manually watch continuous sensor feeds.
The Ghost Shark and its capabilities will be shared with the UK and US under AUKUS Pillar II.
Unlike Pillar I, which aims to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, Pillar II focuses on cutting edge defence technologies, including the use of artificial intelligence.