---
title: "Navy’s Giant New Robot Sub Will Prowl Ocean For Months Autonomously"
description: "## Absolute Unit"
date: "2019-02-17"
modified: "2019-02-18"
authors:
  - name: "Jon Christian"
    job_title: "Executive Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/giant-robot-sub-prowl-ocean"
categories:
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "military"
  - "Navy"
  - "submarine"
  - "the digest"
---

# Navy’s Giant New Robot Sub Will Prowl Ocean For Months Autonomously

![The Navy just awarded Boeing a contract to build a giant robot submarine, which it says will prowl the depths of the ocean autonomously.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/giant-robot-sub-prowl-ocean.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Boeing\</em\>*

## Absolute Unit

The Navy just awarded Boeing a contract to build a giant robot submarine, called the Orca Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle, which it says will prowl the depths of the ocean autonomously for months at a time.

The U.S. Naval Institute says the sub will be used for "mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, electronic warfare and strike missions."

## Extra Large Sub

The chunky Orca design will be 51 feet long and with a diameter of about 8.5 feet, and weigh about 50 tons, [according to](<https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a26344025/navy-extra-large-unmanned-submarines-boeing/>) *Popular Mechanics.* *New Atlas* [reports that](<https://newatlas.com/boeing-contractoorca-robotic-subs/58505/vvv>) it'll be diesel-electric.

It'll also be modular, with a "payload system" that can house 2,000 cubic feet of custom equipment.

## Body by Boeing

The Orca will also potentially house some serious weapons, *PopMech* reports, with the ability to pack light and heavyweight torpedoes and lay mines — or it could stick to autonomous reconnaissance.

"This sort of versatility in a single, low-cost package is fairly unheard of in military spending," *PopMech* wrote.

**READ MORE:** [The Navy Just Ordered the 'Orca,' an Extra-Large Unmanned Submarine by Boeing](<https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a26344025/navy-extra-large-unmanned-submarines-boeing/>) \[*Popular Mechanics*\]

***More on robot submarines:*** [China Built a Robot Submarine to Shoot Rockets Into Typhoons](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/robot-submarine-shoot-typhoons>)

## Author
I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/jonchristian.net>)