In an effort to attract US customers, Anduril Industries recently showcased the capabilities of its Dive Extra-Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (XL-AUV) off the coast of California.
The autonomous submarine reportedly completed a 100-hour single voyage — the “longest for a vehicle of this class.”
While the company views it as a significant milestone, it emphasized that this achievement is just a precursor to an upcoming demonstration, where the Dive-XL will attempt to complete a 1,000-nautical-mile (1,150 miles/1,852 kilometer) mission in a single trip.
“That’s in the coming months — weeks, if you will. And that’ll be the longest that we believe anyone’s really done,” Shane Arnott, Anduril’s senior vice president for programs and engineering, told Breaking Defense.
The Dive-XL is already being integrated into operations for the Royal Australian Navy, but Anduril is keen to introduce it to the US market as a complement to the US Navy’s crewed and uncrewed naval vessels.
A ‘Future-Proof’ Platform
The Dive-XL is a modular platform that can be equipped with various payloads for a wide range of missions, from subsea intelligence gathering to long-range surveillance and commercial seabed mapping.
It can remain submerged for weeks without intervention, ensuring it can operate undetected at extended ranges.
“This kind of autonomy is essential for maintaining subsea superiority in an era of increasing threats and decreasing manned fleets,” Anduril noted.
Additionally, the platform features an open systems architecture that supports continuous upgrades as new technologies emerge.
This approach, according to the company, does not only reduce costs but also extends the platform’s operational lifespan, positioning it as a “future-proof solution” for evolving defense needs.
