Anduril opens Sydney Ghost Shark factory — first Ghost Shark ahead of schedule,

Just seven weeks after the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) announced the award of a $1.7 billion contract for the manufacture and support of an undisclosed number of Ghost Shark Extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (XL-AUVs), Anduril has officially opened its new Ghost Shark manufacturing facility in Sydney.

The opening was attended by Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence Industry, and Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AO, RAN, Chief of Navy and coincided with a major milestone: the first Ghost Shark XL-AUV has rolled off the line ahead of schedule and is ready for sea acceptance testing ahead of planned delivery to the RAN in January 2026.

“The Ghost Shark is the most high-tech long range autonomous underwater capability that exists in the world today and the Albanese Government is proud to have supported its development,” said the Hon Pat Conroy MP, Minister for Defence Industry. “The opening of this factory is about backing Australian ingenuity and innovation, but also securing hundreds of well-paid high-skilled jobs and a future made in Australia.”

Anduril announced the Program of Record designation after successfully completing the co-development contract and delivering three prototype and production-standard Ghost Shark XL-AUVs ahead of schedule and on-budget. This was a part of the $140 million co-development contract to design and develop the craft in just three years.

“Today marks a defining moment in our mission to bring sovereign undersea capability to Australia,” said David Goodrich OAM, Chairman & CEO of Anduril Australia. “Affordable, disruptive and distributed mass is a central tenet of undersea deterrence, and we look forward to supporting Australia and its allies by producing Ghost Sharks right here in Sydney.”

The new 7,400m² facility is purpose-built to produce Ghost Shark, and its commercial baseline the Dive-XL, at-scale and, subject to Government approval, for export to allies and partners around the world. It combines advanced robotic manufacturing, AI-driven logistics and a custom test tank for in-water verification of buoyancy, electrical systems and safety before sea trials.

The Ghost Shark manufacture program has commenced with Low-Rate Initial Production, moving to full scale production in 2026. It incorporates input from a supply chain of more than 40 Australian SMEs and companies that provide a broad range of components, subcomponents and materials.

Beyond the XL-AUV, the facility is configured to manufacture the civilian Dive-XL and much smaller Dive-LD variants and can also support future platforms such as Anduril’s Copperhead family of high-speed Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs).