DRONE attack submarines dubbed “Ghost Sharks” are set to be deployed to face down China.
Australia will spend a jaw-dropping $1.1billion on the cutting-edge autonomous drones, with the first ones ready as early as January 2026.
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The deadly underwater attack vessels will have both intelligence-gathering and striking capabilities.
Australia’s extraordinary new weapons can be deployed from warships or launched off the coast, undertaking long-range, long-duration missions without surfacing.
The government have not revealed an exact number of submarines, but said it will likely be “dozens”.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said: “Australia is leading the world in terms of autonomous underwater military capabilities and Ghost Shark is capable of engaging in intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike.”
He added: “This is the highest tech capability in the world.”
The country comprises 21,000 miles of coastline, with 50 per cent of the Australian population residing within four miles of the coast, and the navy making up a large part of the nation’s defence.
The government announced a five-year contract with Anduril Australia to build, maintain and develop the extra-large, unmanned drones, which are expected to create 150 jobs.
The whopping investment comes after the Aussies signed a separate “AUKUS” agreement with the United Kingdom and the United States, and rising tensions with China in the Pacific.
The agreement will enable the UK and the US to bolster Australia’s submarine-specific material and nuclear-powered equipment.
Costing up to $368billion over 30 years, the deal will be central to Australia gaining nuclear-powered submarine capability from the 2030s.
This eyewatering purchase of the Ghost Sharks comes after Australia’s upgrade to Mogami-class warships last month.
The mammoth Mitsubishi-made monsters will first enter service by 2030.
Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy said: “We are taking another step towards delivering a much larger and more lethal Navy.”
The Minister claimed that the terrifying warships can fire up to 128 missiles, giving Australia “cutting‑edge weapons and combat systems they need to prevail in an increasingly complex environment.”
With relations with China approaching boiling point, “Australia faces the most complex, in some ways the most threatening strategic landscape that we have had since the end of the Second World War,” Marles said.
Four Chinese vessels conducted joint naval drills with Russian ships in August in the Sea of Japan.
The Defence Minister had previously announced Australian forces were monitoring Chinese vessels circling to their waters earlier this year.
Though China was “acting in accordance with international law,” he warned that “Australia is also entitled to be prudent, and we are monitoring very closely what the activities of the task group are.”
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A Chinese fighter jet released flares in front of an Australian military aircraft eight months earlier, while flying over the South China Sea, Canberra authorities reported.
China’s military accused an Australian navy ship of “causing trouble” by sailing through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday.
Moscow and Beijing have been reinforcing their military partnership in recent years, and showed off the PLA’s friendship with Putin during his state visit last week.
China held a gigantic military parade in Tiananmen Square in Beijing – celebrating 80 years since the end of World War Two – flexing its extensive military prowess.
The parade was also attended by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in addition to Putin and China President Xi Jinping.
Marles argued: “All that we are doing in terms of building a much more capable Defence Force is to deter conflict and to provide for the peace and stability of the region in which we live.”
Marles – who also serves as Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister – has splashed the cash in recent years, promising $250million worth of military aid for Ukraine in July 2024.
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