Autonomous Undersea Vehicle Completes 100-Hour Demonstration

February 1, 2025

Anduril Industries
Orange County, CA
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.anduril.com

Anduril Industries is trying to define the next frontier of autonomous maritime operations. Just as the Dive-LD set a new global standard for Large-Diameter Autonomous Undersea Vehicles (LD-AUV), the Dive-XL, Anduril’s commercial Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV), is setting a new global standard for what is possible for vehicles of this size.

Dive-XLs are at-sea nearly every single day in Australia and the United States, and the vehicle recently concluded a 100 hour single voyage — the longest underway for a vehicle of this class. This, however, is just a waypoint, which will eventually be superseded, as the company moves toward a far more ambitious goal: a 1,000 nautical mile, fully submerged mission that the Dive-XL will conduct in the first half of 2025. That achievement will itself be just another important milestone as the company seeks to unlock the full, multi-thousand mile range of the vehicle.

Unlike hybrid uncrewed submarines, which require frequent contact with the surface, Dive-XL is designed to operate undersea for the entirety of its missions. This is not just a technical achievement — it is a mission-critical capability. The longer an XL-AUV can stay submerged, the more operational flexibility it provides its commanders.

Dive-XL’s producibility stems from a fundamentally different approach to design and manufacturing. It’s modular design is freely flooded, relying on smaller, commercial off the shelf pressure vessels to house critical systems like navigation, communications, and batteries. The core vehicle is constructed from affordable and commercially available marine grade materials such as aluminum and fiberglass. This architecture reduces complexity, lowers costs, and makes Dive-XL highly manufacturable with resilient supply chains across the globe. Production doesn’t require bespoke materials and specialized shipyard labor, but can instead tap into the commercial automotive workforce, minimizing retraining time and expanding the industrial base.

Across two completely different maritime environments on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, Dive-XL vehicles are in and under the water right now, undergoing daily testing to validate their endurance, reliability, and versatility. Following the completion of the Ghost Shark R&D program last year, the platform is slated to enter production, with the stated intent of the Australian Government to have first production vehicles in the water by the end of 2025. These production variants will feature substantial improvements in range, speed, navigation and affordability, all while being easier to manufacture at scale.

Visit Here