Boeing has delivered the US Navy’s first Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) in Huntington Beach, California.
The XLUUV is a new class of autonomous submarines that can sustain undersea endurance missions, enabling “dominance” across complex and evolving maritime domains.
Named XLE0, the first Orca platform incorporates a diesel-electric hybrid engine with a modular payload section to perform different undersea operations.
The 51-foot (15.5-meter) system is designed to accommodate different mission-specific integrations, including communication systems, sensors, and related equipment.
“This has been a very busy year for the XLUUV team and their hard work is culminating in delivery of the Navy’s first-ever unmanned diesel-electric submarine,” US Navy Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Manager Capt. Scot Searles said.
“We look forward to continued success with our Boeing teammates in fielding this important capability for the warfighter.”
Orca XLUUV Progress
The handover followed XLE0’s acceptance test completion earlier this month. In-water trials for the drone, including above and below-surface maneuvers, commenced in Spring 2023.
In 2017, Boeing began demonstrating Echo Voyager, the precursor of the Orca used for the US Navy XLUUV competition.
Development of the Echo was announced in 2012. Since the program’s inception, it has completed 10,000 hours of operations and “hundreds of nautical miles” autonomously.
According to the US, information gathered from these completed phases will be applied to the Orca XLUUV 1 throughout 5, all of which will be constructed and shipped for the naval force.
“This is the culmination of more than a decade of pioneering work, developing a long-range, fully autonomous undersea vehicle with a large payload capacity that can operate completely independently of a host vehicle,” Boeing Maritime and Intelligence Systems VP Ann Stevens stated.
“I’ve had the distinct pleasure of witnessing our team bring this first-of-its-kind capability to life, and I’m proud of their innovation, perseverance and unwavering commitment which has yielded the most advanced and capable UUV in the world.”
“With the Navy’s partnership, we look forward to continuing to deliver this game-changing vehicle to the fleet.”