Anduril unveils Copperhead autonomous torpedo launched from an autonomous platform

Anduril Industries has announced Copperhead, which it describes as a high-speed, software-defined family of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) built for delivery by larger autonomous systems. Or torpedoes, to use an older expression.

Victory at sea will require large fleets of autonomous subsea, surface, and air vehicles capable of bringing advanced awareness and overwhelming adversaries with mass maritime effects, the company comments. Copperhead enables a comprehensive, intelligent maritime capability that allows operators to quickly respond to threats in the undersea battlespace, at a fraction of the cost of legacy options, Anduril claims. Potential launch platforms for Copperhead include the company’s Dive-LD and Dive-XL autonomous submarines.

The Dive-XL platform is the commercial variant of the AUV known to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) as the Ghost Shark Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV). In a $140 million highly classified joint program with the RAN and Australia’s Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA), Anduril Australia was awarded a contract two years ago to build three production-ready Ghost Sharks at an undisclosed location on Sydney Harbour within three years. Last year it showed the first at the RAN’s Garden Island facility; the company manufactured a fourth using its own funds, which it dubbed Dive-XL. Anduril transferred this to the USA last year where it has undertaken further testing, presumably including Copperhead and other autonomous systems such as Seabed Sentry which it also launched last week.

The second and third RAN XL-AUVs will be delivered this calendar year and Anduril says it is now building a facility somewhere in Sydney to mass-produce the Ghost Shark. The RAN’s Maritime Integrated Capabilities Branch (MICB) head, Commodore Michael Turner, has declined to comment on Ghost Shark’s potential roles and payloads but said the Ghost Shark has a clear path to acquisition and service entry as long as it continues to convince the RAN’s Capability Manager that it is working as promised.

Despite the rapid advances in autonomous vehicles across air, surface, and subsea domains, 533mm (21-inch) heavyweight and 324mm (12.75-inch) lightweight torpedoes aren’t built at scale and production remains frozen in Cold War-era designs, says Anduril.

The company argues that current systems are expensive, slow to produce, and tightly coupled to legacy platforms like nuclear submarines and warships. In addition, it says, the US and its allies need far more autonomous, quickly deployable subsea systems that can integrate with the expanding fleet of autonomous subsea, surface, and air vehicles. Copperhead  and Copperhead-M meet these needs.

The Copperhead series includes two models—Copperhead-100 and Copperhead-500—offering different sizes, payload capacities, and ranges for commercial and defence missions.

Copperhead-M is a munition variant that arms autonomous vehicles with affordable and mass-producible torpedo-like capabilities. Copperhead-M enhances naval operations by allowing commanders to use autonomous vehicles for high-risk missions, engaging maritime threats more precisely and effectively while protecting more valuable assets and personnel. For example, Anduril’s Dive-XL can carry dozens of Copperhead-100Ms or multiple Copperhead-500Ms, delivering underwater firepower on demand to disable or destroy maritime threats. This makes it possible for a fleet of Dive-XLs to control ocean areas with an unprecedented level of autonomous seapower. The company has declined to release details of the likely range of either the Copperhead family or the Dive-XL AUV; the Dive-LD has a stated survey range of 580km (313nm).

With the addition of Copperhead, Anduril says it is building a family of intelligent, autonomous maritime systems that work together to deliver unmatched situational awareness, precision engagement, and scalable maritime dominance. By integrating autonomous capabilities across subsea, surface, and air domains, Anduril believes it is enabling operators to maintain full control of the battlespace, ensuring superiority in any maritime environment.