Navy League 2025: Anduril unveils Copperhead AUVs that can be launched from other unmanned vehicles

A graphic side view of Anduril's Copperhead AUVs, which are designed to be launched by other autonomous vehicles. (Anduril Industries)

Anduril Industries is launching a new family of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) designed to be delivered by other autonomous systems. “The Copperhead family is multiple very-fast autonomous underwater vehicles with flexible payloads,” Shane Arnott, senior vice-president of programmes and engineering for Anduril, told journalists during a briefing on 4 April, ahead of the Navy League Sea-Air-Space 2025 annual conference and exposition in National Harbor, Maryland, held from 7 to 9 April. “One of the use cases for the flexible payload space is a munition,” he continued. Armed variants are called Copperhead-M, which Anduril believes “is the first subsea effector or torpedo that has been built for autonomous systems delivery”, Arnott said. The Copperhead-M can be delivered by the company's Dive-XL vehicle, for example, he added.

There are currently two sizes. The Copperhead-100 is about 12.75 inch (324 mm) in diameter and 2.5 m (8.2 ft) in length and can carry a payload of 100 lb (45 kg) dry weight, Arnott said. The Copperhead-500 is 21 inch (533 mm) in diameter with a payload of around 500 lb (227 kg) dry weight, he continued. Potential payloads include active and passive sensors, magnetometers, side-scan sonar, and chemical detection sensors, according to an Anduril statement on 7 April. Anduril is not providing performance parameters at this time, although Arnott said that both vehicles would be capable of speeds greater than 30 kt.