Killer robot subs with nukes get real.

Lockheed Martin is to develop the U.S. Navy’s new programme of robot submarine, with Orca, the U.S. Navy’s Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV).

This long-range full-sized autonomous submarine will perform a variety of missions, enabled by a reconfigurable payload bay which will field cruise missiles as well as other nuclear-tipped missiles.

Key attributes of the massive robot submarine will, they say, include extended vehicle range, autonomy, and persistence.

Orca will transit to an area of operation; loiter with the ability to periodically establish communications, deploy payloads, and transit home. A critical benefit of Orca is that Navy personnel launch, recover, operate, and communicate with the vehicle from a home base and are never placed in harm’s way.

“With each new undersea vehicle that Lockheed Martin designs, we bring to bear the state-of-the-art in technology, and innovative system integration of those technologies, to increase the range, reach, and effectiveness of undersea forces and their missions,” noted Frank Drennan, director, submersibles and autonomous systems, business development. “With decades of experience supporting the U.S. Navy’s mission, our engineers are approaching this design with a sense of urgency and continued agility.”

Skynet moves closer to completion!