‘Ghost Sharks’ and a historic defence treaty to China-proof our nearest neighbour

Australia and Papua New Guinea will vow to defend each other if they come under attack in a historic defence treaty that will elevate the relationship to a top-tier alliance.

As the Albanese government spends almost $2 billion on underwater drones called Ghost Sharks to compete with China’s rapid military build-up, it is also deepening ties with Pacific neighbours to prevent Beijing from gaining a permanent security foothold in the region.

Sources familiar with the Australia-PNG defence treaty, set to be signed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and counterpart James Marape early next week, said it will include a clause obliging the two nations to act together to meet a “common danger”, language echoing Australia’s existing military alliances with the United States and New Zealand.

Papua New Guineans will also be allowed to serve in the Australian Defence Force and put on a path to Australian citizenship under the treaty.

The move would represent a major foreign policy victory for the government after Vanuatu abruptly scuttled plans to sign a 10-year security and economic pact with Australia this week because of concerns it could curtail Chinese investment in the Pacific nation.

Albanese revealed on Wednesday he was also in talks with Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka about signing a new treaty as Australia strives to embed itself, rather than China, as the Pacific’s top security partner.

The ANZUS treaty that Australia signed with the United States and New Zealand in 1951 committed the nations to consult each other in the event of an armed attack or threat to their territorial integrity.

The ANZUS treaty also states that “an armed attack in the Pacific Area on any of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes”.

Mihai Sora, Pacific Islands program director at the Lowy Institute, said the Australia-PNG defence treaty was shaping up to represent a “flagship achievement for Australia in the Pacific”.

“This would represent the highest level of mutual commitment between Australia and any Pacific island nation,” he said.

“It would also be a historic shift away from PNG’s traditional non-aligned, friends-to-all policy.”

Sora said he expected some ambiguity in the way the treaty obligations are phrased, including respect for each nation’s parliamentary processes, but said this would not undermine the significance of the pact.

The government revealed on Wednesday that it will buy dozens of high-tech, locally made submarine drones under a $1.7 billion plan to boost the military’s autonomous capabilities.

The navy has awarded US defence firm Anduril a contract to develop and manufacture a fleet of Ghost Shark extra-large underwater drones, with the first vehicle scheduled to enter service in January.

Ghost Shark vessels made in Australia could then be exported to the US and other nations in a significant win for the Australian defence industry.

The undersea vehicles, which do not carry any crew, can be used to strike enemy targets such as submarines and ships while also conducting surveillance and reconnaissance missions.

“This is the highest tech capability in the world,” Defence Minister Richard Marles said in Sydney, describing the Ghost Shark as a “profoundly important capability for the Royal Australian Navy”.

Asked how the technology compares to the military capabilities displayed by China’s People’s Liberation Army at a lavish military parade in Beijing last week, Marles said: “I mean, we are really confident in standing here today and saying that Ghost Shark is the best underwater autonomous military capability on the planet”.

Marles said he had to be careful about detailing the Ghost Shark’s exact specifications and capabilities, but the black, boxy vehicles are based on a 5.8-metre-long and 2.7-tonne prototype.

They can operate autonomously for up to 10 days at a depth of up to 6000 metres, allowing them to conduct missions too difficult or dangerous for crewed vessels.

Developed for the Royal Australian Navy, the prototypes were manufactured in Sydney.

Marles said the Ghost Shark was designed to work alongside the navy’s crewed ships and submarines, including the nuclear-powered submarines Australia will acquire under the AUKUS pact.

Anduril, founded by American entrepreneur Palmer Luckey, said in a statement that the Ghost Shark’s entry into full production “marks the start of a new era of sea power through maritime autonomy”.

“For years, Australia has faced the persistent and threatening presence of Chinese naval assets in its home waters,” the company said, adding that autonomous vehicles “can directly address this challenge through coastal defence patrols”.

A Chinese naval flotilla circumnavigated Australia in March and conducted live-fire exercises in the Tasman Strait, raising questions about Australia’s maritime surveillance capabilities.

Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the Ghost Shark would be able to “provide strike at extremely long distances from the continent of Australia”.

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