The Navy just awarded Boeing a contract to build the Orca Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, a robot submarine to prowl the depths of the ocean for months at a time, autonomously.
Orca, based on Boeing’s Echo Voyager robotic sub, is a fully autonomous extra large unmanned undersea vehicle (XLUUV) class UUV that can be used for a variety of missions.
The vehicle’s advanced autonomy enables it to perform at sea for months at a time, delivering a more affordable, mission-capable solution over traditional UUVs.
Echo Voyager’s range covers 6,500 nm (1 fuel module) allowing the vehicle to perform long endurance operations. Does not require a support vessel for operation.
is designed to incorporate a modular payload section for multiple uses up to 34 feet in length and 2000 cubic feet in volume, and can include payloads extending outside of its envelope.
The 51-foot-long vehicle powered by a hybrid combination of battery technology and marine diesel generators, uses the XLUUV’s navigation system featuring a proven Kalman filtered Inertial Navigation Unit supported by Doppler Velocity Logs and depth sensors offering superior directional accuracy.
Prior to Echo Voyager, Boeing developed Echo Seeker and Echo Ranger, autonomous and large UUVs as test beds for its current XLUUV.
source Boeing
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