Australian Defence minister Peter Dutton announces a $140 million AUD program to construct three “Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle” (XL-AUV) prototypes. The prototypes are planned to be completed within three years, with full production starting straight after. The autonomous submarines are planned to be multi-role, capable of seafloor mapping, surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, and mine-counter warfare among other things.
Anduril, an American company, will work with small to medium Australian enterprises to manufacture the drone subs entirely in Australia.
Unmanned systems are quickly becoming infamous for their advantages in modern combat. As AI gets better, the use of unmanned vehicles in ground and sea combat will rise.
