from
https://newatlas.com/military/ghost-shark-autonomous-fleet-submarine/

Ghost Shark: The huge stealth advantage of autonomous submarines
By David Szondy
April 19, 2024

Artist's concept of Ghost Shark Australian Government
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Australia's robotic submarine program is a year ahead of schedule as the
government takes delivery of the first Ghost Shark Extra-Large
Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) prototype, with three more to
follow next year.

The Australian defense sector has had a reputation for being something
of a backwater, but the increasing importance of the Indo-Pacific
region, saber rattling by China, and North Korea taking missile pot
shots over Japan has changed that. Today, the Australian defense budget
is undergoing a massive increase, there's a greater emphasis on domestic
defense production, and the Royal Australian Navy is working with the
US, Britain, and (perhaps) Japan to acquire long-range nuclear attack
submarines capable of operating north of the continent.

Part of this new strategy involves developing autonomous platforms that
can act as force multipliers. Instead of just sending out submarine
patrols, Canberra wants to include autonomous drones that can operate
for long durations without a crew to increase the capabilities of the
patrols.

Developed by the Defence Department and Anduril Australia along with
industry partners, Ghost Shark is described as "Mission Zero" for the
government's Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator (ASCA). The
craft is part of the government's project to build or acquire subsea
warfare capabilities and new autonomous and uncrewed underwater
vehicles, which was supposed to take three years to create the first
prototype but is ahead of schedule.

Ghost Shark on the pier
Ghost Shark on the pierAustralian Government

Though not many details have been given about the specifications of the
craft, it's smaller than a conventional submarine because it doesn't
require the pressure-proof hull for a crew or the complex
sound-deadening equipment needed to muffle the noise of the submariners'
moving about and their life support equipment. Instead, the machinery
and electronics are set in watertight modules.

When deployed, Ghost Shark will allow the Royal Australian Navy to carry
out stealthy, long-range autonomous undersea warfare with persistent
intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike capabilities. The
craft will be able to work with Navy and allied vessels as part of the
AUKUS treaty.

"This collaboration combines Navy’s expertise, ASCA’s speed to delivery,
Defence’s scientific smarts and Anduril Australia’s experience in agile
innovation," said Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Mark Hammond. "We are a
nation girt by sea, and the Ghost Shark is one of the tools we are
developing for the Navy to patrol and protect our oceans and our
connection to the world."

Source: Australian Government

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TAGS
MILITARYSUBMARINEROYAL AUSTRALIAN NAVYAUSTRALIAAUTONOMOUS VEHICLESROBOTICS
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2 COMMENTS
David Szondy
David Szondy
David Szondy is a playwright, author and journalist based in Seattle,
Washington. A retired field archaeologist and university lecturer, he
has a background in the history of science, technology, and medicine
with a particular emphasis on aerospace, military, and cybernetic
subjects. In addition, he is the author of four award-winning plays, a
novel, reviews, and a plethora of scholarly works ranging from
industrial archaeology to law. David has worked as a feature writer for
many international magazines and has been a feature writer for New Atlas
since 2011.

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Robt APRIL 19, 2024 03:59 AM
Re: It’s smaller because there’s no crew etc..
That seems logical apart from the ‘pressure-proof hull’ comment.
If you go to certain depths, your hull better be pressure proof,
otherwise you won’t have a sub for very long; crew or no crew

yawood APRIL 19, 2024 07:18 AM
@Robt Existing submarines have a casing around the pressure-proof hull,
inside which certain things can be carried. These are flooded areas so
it does not matter how deep the submarines go they can't collapse. It is
the same with this vessel. As the article says, the machinery and
electronics are set in water-tight modules which implies that the rest
will be flooded. The water-tight modules will be pressure-proof to a
certain depth (I imagine, much greater than would be necessary with a
crewed vessel with a large pressurised area). You are right in that even
this will collapse eventually but the pressure-proof areas that contain
machinery and electronics is much smaller and thus more easily
constructed. There is also a great deal of machinery in a crewed
submarine that is just there to keep the crew alive and all this can be
discarded.