Autonomous navigation drives UUVs proliferation in the Indo-Pacific
Boeing has been developing the Orca, a long-range, fully autonomous undersea vehicle, for more than a decade. (Photo: Boeing)
The US Department of Defence has teamed up with Anduril Industries to develop advanced AI-driven long-range uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), countering China’s escalating UUV advancements.
Last month, the US Department of Defence awardeda contract to US uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) systems manufacturer Anduril to develop a prototype for expendable long range artificial intelligence (AI)-run UUVs, which can deliver payloads and perform other commercial or defence missions.
The contract followed the success of Anduril’s Australian subsidiary in winninga contract late last year to deliver three extra-large UUV prototypes, named Ghost Shark, to the Royal Australian Navy by 2025. Western navies have been increasing their uptake of AI-powered UUVs as technological competition with China accelerates their efforts to integrate AI into their naval military capabilities.
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