US military contractor Anduril has signed a US$100 million contract with the Australian Navy, to design and deliver three iterations of an Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV). These drones will be as big as buses, but not watertight.
The XL-AUV is pitched as a long-endurance, multi-mission capable platform that can be decked out with all sorts of gear and sent out on “a wide range of military and non-military missions such as advanced intelligence, infrastructure inspection, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting.”
Above all else, though, Anduril says it’ll be “affordable” – or at least, a relative hundred-million dollar bargain in the context of specialized military drone development. And to keep costs low and timelines to a tight three years for all three iterations of this machine, Anduril will do away with the pressure hull and let water freely flood through the vehicle.
Read more: New Atlas
