US Navy receives first Australian Speartooth LUUV drone for autonomous underwater strikes.

The U.S. Navy has received its first Australian-built Speartooth autonomous underwater strike drone from C2 Robotics, confirming Washington’s growing interest in low-cost uncrewed systems able to expand undersea surveillance and attack capacity without relying solely on expensive crewed submarines. The delivery, announced on May 1, 2026, follows a 2025 NUWC Division Newport procurement for three long-range LUUVs and highlights how allied-developed autonomous platforms are becoming increasingly important for maritime denial, covert ISR, and distributed undersea warfare.

Designed for stealthy strike and ISR missions, the Speartooth combines a 2,000-km range, modular payload bays, silent electric propulsion, and containerized deployment that allows operations from austere coastal sites rather than dedicated submarine infrastructure. Its operational concept reflects a wider naval shift toward attritable autonomous fleets capable of saturating chokepoints, protecting maritime routes, and sustaining persistent undersea pressure across the Indo-Pacific while traditional submarine programs continue to face rising costs and schedule delays.

Related topic: Australian Navy to receive its first Anduril Ghost Shark XL underwater drone in January 2026

Australia's Speartooth LUUV, a relatively low-cost autonomous underwater vehicle, might be used by the US Navy to patrol contested maritime areas, gather intelligence, monitor ports and sea lanes, deploy sensors or weapons, and support mine warfare missions. (Picture source: C2 Robotics)

On May 1, 2026, Australian firm C2 Robotics commissioned and delivered the first Speartooth Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle (LUUV) to the United States, following an August 2025 U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) Division Newport procurement action for three 11-meter variants configured for long-range undersea strike and ISR operations. The delivery confirmed the United States as the previously undisclosed customer behind C2 Robotics’ October 31, 2025, export announcement, marking one of the first known U.S. acquisitions of an allied-developed autonomous underwater strike vehicle outside domestic XLUUV programs.

No operational squadron, basing location, or deployment schedule has been disclosed, suggesting the systems are likely entering the testing or operational evaluation phase. The acquisition occurred during a broader naval planning shift following Ukrainian maritime drone attacks against Russian naval infrastructure, which demonstrated that low-cost autonomous systems could impose operational costs on high-value naval forces, ports, and maritime traffic at scale. The August 2025 NUWC Division Newport solicitation reportedly specified three Speartooths in an 11-meter configuration and identified the Australian LUUV as the only available autonomous underwater system meeting the U.S. Navy requirements for long-range stealthy kinetic payload delivery within the required size and modularity constraints.

The procurement emerged while the U.S. Navy’s Orca XLUUV program continued to face delays and cost growth exceeding 64%, with schedule slippage surpassing three years and additional costs exceeding $242 million. The Speartooth occupies a smaller category than Orca, as it measures between 8 and 12 meters depending on payload configuration, with a 1-meter diameter, a dry weight of 2,000 kg excluding payloads, a depth rating of 2,000 meters, and a range of 2,000 km. Its architecture includes lithium-ion power systems, silent electric propulsion, inertial navigation, collision avoidance sensors, communications sail architecture, and dual modular payload bays using an open-architecture design. 

Unlike conventional submarines requiring dedicated naval infrastructure, the Speartooth is specifically designed for transport inside commercial shipping containers and deployment from standard ramps or austere coastal infrastructure with limited support personnel. C2 Robotics and Australian planners instead structured the LUUV around force mass generation, with large numbers of lower-cost autonomous systems operating inside distributed ISR grids and maritime denial networks. The Speartooth's mission profiles include ISR, mine warfare, harbor interdiction, strike delivery, seabed warfare, autonomous decoy operations, covert logistics, and electronic warfare support.

The LUUV is said to be more effective in littoral zones, constrained waters, and maritime chokepoints where smaller autonomous systems can maneuver more effectively than large crewed submarines while presenting more difficult tracking problems for anti-submarine warfare forces. C2 Robotics repeatedly frames deployment through the “Small, Smart, Many” concept, which accepts the possibility of unit losses while preserving the larger operational network through a distributed architecture. Australia, for its part, formally integrated the Speartooth into the future Australian Defence Force structure through the 2026 National Defence Strategy while establishing the Maritime Autonomous Systems Unit in April 2026 under Project SEA 1200.

MASU operates as the Royal Australian Navy’s dedicated structure for doctrine development, experimentation, and operational integration of autonomous maritime systems. The unit incorporates the Speartooth alongside the Ghost Shark XL-UUV and Bluebottle USV within a layered autonomous maritime architecture intended for persistent ISR and strike operations across Indo-Pacific distances. Speartooth occupies the lower-cost scalable segment focused on agile undersea operations and seabed warfare, while Ghost Shark supports larger payloads and longer endurance missions.

Bluebottle USVs provide communications relay, persistent ISR, and autonomous support functions across dispersed maritime areas. Australian naval planning increasingly links these systems to Indo-Pacific geography and manpower constraints, arguing that regional operating distances cannot be covered effectively through limited numbers of crewed submarines and surface combatants alone. The industrial model behind the Speartooth prioritizes scalability, distributed production, and simplified sustainment rather than traditional submarine manufacturing dependent on highly specialized shipyard infrastructure.

C2 Robotics compares portions of the vehicle’s production logic to electric vehicle manufacturing because of its reliance on modular electronics, battery systems, and commercially available components wherever operational requirements permit. The company states that production can occur inside existing industrial facilities using distributed supply chains, enabling rapid expansion during crisis or wartime conditions. The Speartooth was also designed around minimal logistics requirements, simplified maintenance cycles, and rapid payload integration, allowing operators to change mission configurations without major structural modification.

Its transportability inside standard containers further reduces deployment costs while enabling dispersal across civilian ports, austere coastal facilities, or expeditionary operating areas. Strategically, the Speartooth reflects a broader transition in undersea warfare away from fleet structures centered on limited numbers of highly specialized crewed submarines toward distributed autonomous maritime networks designed to generate persistent ISR coverage and maritime denial effects at scale. Operational concepts associated with the vehicle repeatedly reference mesh fleets, autonomous ISR grids, distributed strike nodes, and attritable systems capable of saturating adversary surveillance and anti-submarine warfare architecture across large maritime regions.

Australian planning linked to the system specifically addresses chokepoint interdiction, harbor denial, trade disruption, and seabed warfare scenarios involving Indo-Pacific maritime routes. The Speartooth has already participated in Exercise Autonomous Warrior 23, Talisman Sabre, and Maritime Big Play experimentation activities, while C2 Robotics continues export activity through cooperation with Eurobotics GmbH. The U.S. acquisition also provides the company with a reference customer inside the allied naval market at a time when multiple NATO and Indo-Pacific navies are evaluating such autonomous underwater systems.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.