Ghost Shark and Manta Ray may sound like characters straight out of a futuristic comic book, but they represent a significant leap forward in undersea warfare—a domain where the United States and Australia are setting the pace.

These nations have recently unveiled their respective prototype uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs): Ghost Shark by Australia and Manta Ray by the US.

Ghost Shark has been heralded by the Australian Ministry of Defense as “the most advanced undersea autonomous vehicles in the world.”

This UUV is poised to equip the Australian Navy with stealthy, long-range capabilities capable of persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR), and strike operations.

“Delivering the first Ghost Shark prototype ahead of schedule sets a new standard for capability development at the speed of need,” remarked Australia’s Chief Defense Scientist Tanya Monro.

Australian officials and those from manufacturer Anduril Australia said they could not share any of the specs on Ghost Shark as those remain classified.

It’s a momentous advancement in the $140M co-development contract between RAN, DSTG and Anduril to design and develop the three ‘Ghost Shark’ extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles (XL-AUV) in three years in Australia.

Ghost Shark is a modular, multi-purpose capability that can flexibly respond to the Australian Defence Force’s mission requirements, creating an agile force multiplier for Defence.

The Orca, another extra-large UUV in the making by Boeing for the US Navy, is described as “a cutting-edge, autonomous, unmanned diesel-electric submarine with a modular payload section to execute a variety of missions.” A timeline for the integration of Orca into the fleet remains undisclosed.

The US is also advancing with its Manta Ray project, developed by Northrop Grumman and tested off the coast of Southern California.

“The combination of cross-country modular transportation, in-field assembly, and subsequent deployment demonstrates a first-of-kind capability for an extra-large UUV,” stated Kyle Woerner, Manta Ray program head at DARPA, the Pentagon’s technology development branch.

Manta Ray’s modular design allows for the flexibility of payloads to adapt to various mission requirements and is conducive to rapid deployment.

Prior to these underwater drones, satellite and light/radio wave control were the only means for submersible operations.

However, such methods are ineffective in the deeper realm, as a 2023 study in Sensors journal suggests more energy is required while greater data loss is expected due to variables like water temperature, salinity, and depth.

In fact, several other nations are also exploring this technology, including Australia, the US, Canada, France, India, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, according to Sutton.

Relevant articles:
– Australia and US unveil undersea drones Ghost Shark and Manta Ray, CNN
– dwelling robots featuring ghost sharks and manta rays designs., Aussiedlerbote
– Ghost Shark Debuts in Australia – Drones World, Drones World
– Australia got a new sub drone far faster than the US Navy could have, company says, Defense One