Recent changes that are barely noticeable and are moving at a gradual pace are happening deep underwater somewhere in the ocean. No, the armies are not contemplating the use of these automated systems to substitute their sailors, but rather seeing them as helpers for boring, risky, or remote operations that require less human intervention. Their biggest size – eXtra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles, or XLUUVs – are quite different from small early drones.
They are big, have long endurance, are multi-mission capable, and thus can be on the spot for weeks or months and can play different roles. One of the most prominent features of the U.S. Navy’s Orca is that it is a crewless submarine that synthesizes artificial intelligence, stamina, and payload in a way that undersea forces change the zone of their influence.
Orca evolved as a response to a very specific question: how to operate in contested waters without exposing sailors to danger? In 2017, the Navy requested industry to come up with a concept, and five companies answered. Boeing’s design attracted attention and moved further in the process of iterative development. The first trials of the test article were held by late 2023, and alongside the sea trials of subsequent prototypes, production was ramped up.
Orca, which is about 85 feet long, is more the size of the old manned submarines than the drones that hobbyists work with. The deep-sea dives for Orca are in the range of a few thousand feet. The energy used for its propulsion is a hybrid one, which combines a marine diesel with high-end battery systems. This allows it to travel very long distances and keep on board for very long periods – thousands of nautical miles and mission durations are counted by weeks or even months rather than days.
If Orca were precise in its navigation, it would have been little without its sensors. Orca has a range of sensors – Doppler velocity logs, inertial navigation, depth sensors, and GPS when possible – thus, it can fully accomplish complex missions even if communication with the surface is not possible. However, the real advantage of the platform is its payload.
As big as a thirty-four-foot, athirty-four-foot mission bay can store a load that can be up to eight tons in weight. This bay can hold medium-sized UUVs, release swarms of small drones, or carry modular sensor and communications packages. The operators can prepare Orca for the elimination of mines, for the environment of submarines, for the mapping of the seabed, and for logistics. The vehicle can be without the payload bay installed and can have a lighter profile for a transit or specific mission(s) if so required. It is this adaptability that makes Orca a flexible undersea platform instead of being a single-purpose tool.
An orc that has been dropped from a shore facility or a host ship can travel on its own for a long distance, stay on station, carry out tasks, and then turn back to its base – without putting any sailors in danger. Thus, it is perfect for reconnaissance inside contested areas, doing the job of an unattended sensor node, or delivering payloads where crewed assets are at risk. In the words of one naval officer, Orca does not simply support the fleet; rather, it becomes part of it.
The effect on operations is not limited to hardware only. Orca, along with other vessels of her kind, reshapes the commanders’ perspective on the littoral defenses, the sensing ladders, and the undersea battlespace management. Through the help of Orca, which operates as a “mothership” for smaller unmanned systems, the commanders get more options: distributed sensing, surprise approaches, and persistent coverage that conventional platforms struggle to match. Opponents are not only uncertain about the location, but also about the capability – what is lurking and what can it do?
The other nations are developing large unmanned undersea systems as well; however, the Orca program is the one that has come the farthest in showing endurance integration, payload flexibility, and operational concepts. Each of the different designs uses different propulsion schemes and makes different trade-offs in their missions, but the underlying trend is the same: pushing for more undersea capability without exposing people to a similar degree of risk.
Orca is less a single weapon than a doorway to new tactics and mission sets when viewed from a different angle. As part of the move into service, it will guide the way navies blend the use of crewed and uncrewed assets, the distribution of sensors and effects, and the maintenance of presence in faraway or dangerous waters. It is a signal of the coming era when autonomy and persistence become the norm for undersea operations.
We are stepping into the era where silence, stubbornness, and autonomy converge. Orca-like machines will be doing the jobs that are too dangerous, too monotonous, or too far-off for sailors; thus, they are changing the undersea battlespace in the process. The one who will become the master of the combination of endurance, adaptability, and trustworthy autonomy will be the one to have the real advantages in the future seas.