Boeing has delivered a first giant robotic submarine to the US Navy, marking a sea change in how American underwater military missions will be conducted in the future, Defense One reported. The diesel-electric-powered Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), based on Boeing’s Echo Voyager and known as Orca, was shipped after completing a series of sea trials, the report said. Defense One says the XLUUV can be equipped with payload modules of up to 34 feet, bringing its entire length to about 85 feet. The report notes that the Orca is designed to perform long-duration critical missions to achieve undersea maritime dominance in changing environments and contested waters. Defense One notes that the US Navy has designated the first Orca as Test Asset System (XLE0) and will apply lessons learned from XLE0’s testing to Orca XLUUV 1 through 5, which will be built and delivered to the Navy in the future. The crewless submarine is designed to remain at sea for months in open, congested and contested waters with little human intervention, the Defense One report said. Pentagon officials have discussed how large robotic submarines could help the US military increase its capabilities, especially in the Pacific region, and imposed a new challenge to China’s military build-up in recent years. In 2016, then-deputy defense secretary Robert Work visited the Huntington Beach, California, Boeing factory where the Echo Voyager was first built and the Orca is now being constructed. Defense One notes that the Echo Voyager has spent over 10,000 hours at sea and “transited hundreds of nautical miles autonomously.”

Full report : Behold Orca: US Navy’s robotic sub built for drone swarms.