Royal Australian Navy Discussions and Updates 2.0

[StevoJH]

The U.S.N has trialled reloading at sea recently ,Im not sure if the RAN would go down that path ,,their need was to adddress the distance to ports where they could replenish missile stocks after action ,calm seas being vital

U.S. Navy Successfully Tests At-Sea Missile Reloading System in Major Naval Exercise

U.S. Navy has tested a new system for reloading missiles at sea—a move aimed at keeping warships armed and ready without needing to return to port. This t

www.thedefensenews.com

I'm not sure how realistic it is, they used a 200 metre specialised crane ship.

I'm assuming that if it was possible for a normal replenishment ship to do it using its own resources they would have used one of those for a more realistic proof of concept.

 

[MARKMILES77]

Australian Government has revealed, at a press conference, some of the weapons/payloads which Ghost Shark can potentially carry/launch including:
-Sea Mines
-Altius Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Kinetic Payloads
-Logistics Caches, presumably to resupply Special Forces.
-Light Weight and Heavy Weight Torpedos.

https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/transcripts/2026-10-19/press-conference-sydney

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY PAT CONROY:




CEO OF ANDURIL DAVID GOODRICH

 

[MARKMILES77]

Photo from the Press Conference showing the Altius and a Sea Mine in the Background.

Australia unveils sea mines, logistics cache and drone swarm payloads for Ghost Shark XL AUV

The Australian government has unveiled new sea mine, deployable logistics cache and launched swarms of Altius uncrewed aerial vehicle payloads for the Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle.

www.defenceconnect.com.au

Information on what the Altius offers:

Altius | Anduril

Altius is an autonomous air vehicle launched from ground, air, or sea for ISR, SIGINT, EW, comms relay, and coordinated strikes with modular payloads.

www.anduril.com

 

[iambuzzard]

Yes, but so is it with APIN and the RAAF bases we’ve pushed north.

I am curious why they are apparently not so important as the RAN and why they don’t struggle to recruit apparently (they do…) with remote postings but the RAN does.

The real problem we have is a credible defense against drone and missile attacks against our facilities. A container ship off the coast could launch a devastating attack against our most important bases and we can't defend them. People talk it down but it's so easy to do.

 

[iambuzzard]

Australian Government has revealed, at a press conference, some of the weapons/payloads which Ghost Shark can potentially carry/launch including:
-Sea Mines
-Altius Unmanned Aerial Vehicles with Kinetic Payloads
-Logistics Caches, presumably to resupply Special Forces.
-Light Weight and Heavy Weight Torpedos.

https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/transcripts/2026-10-19/press-conference-sydney

MINISTER FOR DEFENCE INDUSTRY PAT CONROY:

View attachment 55829


CEO OF ANDURIL DAVID GOODRICH
View attachment 55830

As I have said before, I think Pat Conroy is across his brief and actually gives a **** about his portfolio. There's a bit of Kim Beazley in him.

 

[SammyC]

Photo from the Press Conference showing the Altius and a Sea Mine in the Background.

Australia unveils sea mines, logistics cache and drone swarm payloads for Ghost Shark XL AUV

The Australian government has unveiled new sea mine, deployable logistics cache and launched swarms of Altius uncrewed aerial vehicle payloads for the Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle.

www.defenceconnect.com.au

View attachment 55831



Information on what the Altius offers:

Altius | Anduril

Altius is an autonomous air vehicle launched from ground, air, or sea for ISR, SIGINT, EW, comms relay, and coordinated strikes with modular payloads.

www.anduril.com

I'm assuming that the mine is the RWM Italia Asteria ones that we purchased a couple of years ago?. 12 as a single payload is a good number. Indicates a decent size cargo bay on the ghost shark.

Anduril have their second product with the Altius 600. Talk about selling the car and making a killing on the accessories. Well I hope we make heaps of them. I saw a video online of an Altius being fired from the ghost shark. Looks effective, I wonder if they plan to fit the ISR or armed version of the Altius, or both. Should be able to fit a lot of them in the cargo bay.

I look forward to the announcement that they are being fitted with Anduril's copperhead torpedos, which were alluded to in the interview.

While the ghost shark got all the airplay, the towed array for the blue bottle is also pretty cool.

 

[seaspear]

The real problem we have is a credible defense against drone and missile attacks against our facilities. A container ship off the coast could launch a devastating attack against our most important bases and we can't defend them. People talk it down but it's so easy to do.

It may not be off the coast ,they could be launched from anywhere as per Ukraine war

 

[seaspear]

I'm assuming that the mine is the RWM Italia Asteria ones that we purchased a couple of years ago?. 12 as a single payload is a good number. Indicates a decent size cargo bay on the ghost shark.

Anduril have their second product with the Altius 600. Talk about selling the car and making a killing on the accessories. Well I hope we make heaps of them. I saw a video online of an Altius being fired from the ghost shark. Looks effective, I wonder if they plan to fit the ISR or armed version of the Altius, or both. Should be able to fit a lot of them in the cargo bay.

I look forward to the announcement that they are being fitted with Anduril's copperhead torpedos, which were alluded to in the interview.

While the ghost shark got all the airplay, the towed array for the blue bottle is also pretty cool.

With regards to kinetic weapons on Ghost Shark is this an autominous feature or is there a"man in the loop" ,the statement included heavyweight torpedoes, mark 48 perhaps, does this vessel have sensors find and identify targets or rely on manned submarine that can distinguish between friendly and non friendly . I understand the Ghost Sharks top speed unladen is seven knots would this limit the manned submarine to this speed ,the manned submarine might via some wiring provide data to the Ghost Shark ,Im just speculating of course