{"id":2099,"date":"2026-04-27T12:43:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/anduril-shows-copperhead-500m-autonomous-underwater-munitions-testing\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:43:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:43:48","slug":"anduril-shows-copperhead-500m-autonomous-underwater-munitions-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/anduril-shows-copperhead-500m-autonomous-underwater-munitions-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Anduril Shows Copperhead-500M Autonomous Underwater Munition\u2019s Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Copperhead family of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) can be equipped with ISR, communications and acoustic payloads for off-board sensing or warheads for kinetic uses.<\/h2>\n

Anduril released on Apr. 25, 2026, the first public footage of its Copperhead-500M underwater weapon, part of the Copperhead series of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), in a short 16-second clip. The video shows the weapon traveling just under the surface of the water, during a test that supposedly took place recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst public footage of Copperhead-500M swimming,\u201d the company said in the post. \u201cDuring the test, the 21-inch heavyweight AUV successfully broke internal speed records while demonstrating extreme agility maneuvers in high seas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company did not reveal when and where the test took place. The Copperhead 100 and 500 are the two main products in this family of naval weapons, with variants for both kinetic and non-kinetic missions.<\/p>\n

\n

If you see Copperhead coming,
\nit\u2019s already too late.<\/p>\n

Shown: First public footage of Copperhead-500M swimming. During the test, the 21-inch heavyweight AUV successfully broke internal speed records while demonstrating extreme agility maneuvers in high seas. pic.twitter.com\/oCgvkQ5FIP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) April 24, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the product page on the company\u2019s website<\/a> shows, the \u2018M\u2019 designation and a yellow band around the faceted body indicate a torpedo type-like vehicle. The vehicles without these markers are instead sub-surface sensing AUVs.<\/p>\n

The video does not show the Copperhead-500M hitting a target, although a blue band indicates that it was an inert AUV without explosives. Also, the video does not show any control room or operator\u2019s console operating the system.<\/p>\n

Anduril\u2019s underwater systems<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The company had unveiled the Copperhead family a year ago in early April<\/a>, stressing on their mass-producibility and ability to be launched by other surface, aerial and the company\u2019s own larger undersea platforms, like the Ghost Shark Extra-Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (XLUUV), the Dive-LD and Dive-XL. Anduril also pointed out that the vehicles have civilian and humanitarian applications.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Screengrab of the latest video by Anduril showing the Copperhead-500M travelling just under the surface of the water. | Source: Anduril<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The maritime vehicles add to Anduril\u2019s diverse portfolio of modular and scalable systems like the YFQ-44A Fury<\/a> Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA), the Barracuda family<\/a> of autonomous air vehicles, the Roadrunner reusable anti-air interceptor drone, and the Ghost Shark Extra-Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (XLUUV).<\/p>\n

Australia announced in September 2025 a $1.12 billion deal<\/a> for a fleet of Ghost Shark XLUUVs which, according to Defense Minister Richard Marles, would be manufactured within the country. The company also announced on Mar. 12<\/a>, 2026, that it had been selected by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to participate in the Combat Autonomous Marine Platform Project (CAMP).<\/p>\n

\u201cAnduril will complete a long-duration, operationally representative demonstration of Dive-XL within 4 months of contract award,\u201d said the company. The Dive-XL had successfully performed in Australia as well, prior to Sydney\u2019s selection of the Ghost Shark.<\/p>\n

\n

Anduril has secured a A$1.7B (US$1.2B) contract to deliver a fleet of Ghost Shark XL-AUVs to the @Australian_Navy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is our first international Program of Record. Production is already underway. pic.twitter.com\/VZDnU9TyxR<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) September 10, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Copperhead family of sensing and strike AUVs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Copperhead-100M is a lightweight torpedo with 12.75-inch diameter and nine feet long, while the larger Copperhead-500M is a 21-inch thick and a little over 13 feet-long heavyweight torpedo. The Copperhead-100 and 500 are classic ISR AUVs that can carry swappable payloads for extended communications, a magnetometer and side-scan sonar for anti-submarine warfare and chemical detection devices.<\/p>\n

All Copperheads have a maximum speed of 30 knots. Roughly, the Copperhead-500 can be considered to be broadly equivalent to a Mk 48 heavyweight torpedo, while the Copperhead-100 is roughly in the same class as a Mk 54 lightweight torpedo.<\/p>\n

Anduril said in an Apr. 7, 2025, release<\/a>: \u201cWith the Dive-LD and Dive-XL, Copperhead enables a comprehensive, intelligent maritime capability that allows operators to quickly respond to threats in the undersea battlespace, at a fraction of the cost of legacy options.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

More firepower.<\/p>\n

The U.S. & its allies need scalable, autonomous subsea weapons that can be rapidly deployed to meet the demands of modern naval operations.<\/p>\n

Meet Copperhead. Anduril\u2019s high-speed, software-defined family of AUVs. pic.twitter.com\/uxRMHOlXIH<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Anduril Industries (@anduriltech) April 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The company called the Copperhead-M a \u201cmunition variant\u201d for autonomous vehicles with \u201caffordable and mass-producible torpedo-like capabilities.\u201d \u201cCopperhead-M enhances naval operations by allowing commanders to use autonomous vehicles for high-risk missions, engaging maritime threats more precisely and effectively while protecting more valuable assets and personnel,\u201d said the company.<\/p>\n

For example, Anduril\u2019s Dive-XL can carry dozens of Copperhead-100Ms or multiple Copperhead-500Ms, \u201cdelivering underwater firepower on demand to disable or destroy maritime threats.\u201d The two can also be repurposed for \u201crapid-response commercial missions\u201d like \u201csearch and rescue, critical infrastructure inspection, and environmental monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n

Future<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Copperhead systems are far from being tested by the U.S. Navy\u2019s existing surface combatants or its primary maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare platform, the P-8A Poseidon<\/a>. All these platforms are however expected to work with Anduril\u2019s Seabed Sentry Undersea Sensor Network<\/a>, which the company had unveiled just days before revealing the Copperheads.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Navy\u2019s Orca XLUUV developed by Boeing, the first of which was delivered to the service in December 2023<\/a>, had been delayed by three years and was $242 million over budget, a 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report<\/a> said. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is also testing<\/a> Northrop Grumman\u2019s extra-large glider Manta Ray UUV<\/a>, \u201cthat will operate long-duration, long-range<\/a> and payload-capable undersea missions without need for on-site human logistics.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Copperhead family of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) can be equipped with ISR, communications and acoustic payloads for off-board sensing or warheads for kinetic uses. Anduril released on Apr. 25, 2026, the first public footage of its Copperhead-500M underwater weapon, part of the Copperhead series of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), in a short 16-second clip. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zephyrsys.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}