Ghost Shark Sea Mines and Altius Drone Swarms Unveiled

Australia unveiled three previously secret payloads for Anduril's Ghost Shark autonomous submarine on October 19, 2026: up to 12 sea mines per mission, tube-launched Altius loitering drones that can form aerial swarms for reconnaissance and strike, and seabed supply caches. Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy announced the reveal in Sydney, saying the Ghost Shark "now has teeth."

What Is the Ghost Shark?

The Ghost Shark is an extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XL-AUV) built by US defense company Anduril for the Royal Australian Navy. It is a crewless submarine that operates without a human on board, and it can launch from both vessels and wharves, according to Conroy.

Australia signed a production contract worth A$1.7 billion (about US$1.2 billion) on September 10, 2025, as reported by DroneXL. That sits inside a wider autonomous undersea warfare budget of up to A$5.8 billion (about US$4 billion) over the decade. Conroy described the program as the fastest peacetime acquisition of a major platform in Australian Defence Force history, three years from concept to delivery.

The Navy received its first vehicle for testing and acceptance in early 2026. Conroy gave the planned fleet size only as "dozens and dozens."

The Three New Payloads

Australia disclosed the payloads at Anduril Australia's factory in Sydney. They are bound for Maritime Big Play Pacific, an AUKUS exercise near San Diego running October 5-25, 2026.

Anduril Australia CEO David Goodrich added that the payload bays also support heavyweight and lightweight torpedoes. Conroy did not confirm that claim.

How Altius Drones Fit In

Altius is Anduril's tube-launched loitering munition, a type of drone that can circle an area, gather imagery, and then strike a target. Releasing Altius from a submerged vehicle would let a crewless sub send aerial drones into airspace it cannot otherwise reach.

Altius has had a mixed public record. Reuters reported two test crashes at Eglin Air Force Base in November 2025, and DroneXL notes it was fired from an Apache helicopter at Yuma Proving Ground in February 2026. No technical specifications were published for the Ghost Shark integration.

Why It Matters Beyond Australia

Conroy said "a range of other countries" have expressed interest in buying the Ghost Shark. The US Navy picked Anduril's Dive-XL, the baseline for the Ghost Shark, for its own extra-large AUV program in March 2026. The AUKUS partners (Australia, the UK and the US) have also pledged this year to develop interchangeable payloads for undersea drones.

For the drone industry, the reveal shows how quickly aerial, surface and underwater autonomy are converging into single systems. Many of the same technologies behind consumer and enterprise drones, such as autonomous navigation and swarm coordination, now drive military platforms. Our guide to drones and artificial intelligence explains how these systems work, and types of drones covers where loitering munitions sit among the main categories.

What This Means for Drone Pilots

Nothing in this announcement changes the rules for civilian pilots. The Ghost Shark and Altius are military systems, and no civilian version has been announced.

The practical effect is indirect. Defense demand is pulling investment, talent and manufacturing capacity toward autonomy and swarming software, and that spending historically filters down into commercial drone tools over time. Pilots following BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight) and autonomy developments should expect more of that crossover.

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Sources: DroneXL | Australian Defence Minister's press conference transcript, Sydney | Euronews