For years, submarine warfare has remained one of the most dangerous forms of warfare, claiming man and machine at an alarming rate even when a conflict has ended and everyone else has gone home to lick their wounds. Grappling with the many perils faced with the conduct of undersea warfare has long been a contentious issue for all the world’s navies, even when the potential rewards of lurking in the ocean’s depths seem to far outweigh their incredible risk.

The US Navy, obviously looking to reduce costs and lessen the risk associated with underwater combat yet still carry out undersea operations, recently decided to purchase a fleet of four Extra-Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (XLUUVs) from Boeing. So valuable are these undersea drones that, according to Popular Mechanics, “(they) will be capable of crossing entire oceans and fulfilling a variety of missions, from hunting mines to sinking submarines.”

“The Orca is based on the Echo Voyager technology demonstration sub. That boat is an unmanned diesel electric submarine launched and recovered from a pier. It has a range of 6,500 nautical miles and can run completely alone for months at a time. It measures 51 by 8.5 by 8.5 feet and has a weight “in the air” of 50 tons.”

Designed in part to deal with a myriad of underwater threats, “the unmanned submarines will be able to undertake missions from scouting to sinking ships at very long ranges. Drone ships like the Orca will revolutionize war at sea, providing inexpensive, semi-disposable weapon systems that can fill the gaps in the front line—or simply go where it’s too dangerous for manned ships to go.”

For more information on the Orcas, and the likely impact they will have on naval combat in the 21st Century, visit the Popular Mechanics web site.