Renowned aerospace firm Boeing is working towards building a massive robot submarine that it aimed to lurk deep down in ocean autonomously for months.

The US Navy has awarded aerospace company Boeing a $43 million contract to manufacture four giant robot submarines, named ‘Orca Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle’, which will reportedly prowl the depths of ocean autonomously for months at a time.

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The diesel-electric powered Orca will be 51ft long with a diameter of about 8.5ft, and weigh about 50 tons. The sub will also be modular, with a ‘payload system’ that can house 2,000 cubic feet of custom equipment. It will operate on its own due to autonomous navigation systems and a fuel module providing a range of 12,038km, reported New Atlas.

Apart from autonomous guidance, control and navigation, the robotic Orca is also equipped with situational awareness, power distribution, core communications, propulsion and maneuvering, and mission sensor system. These traits help Orca not to depend on any other ship to launch and stay in deep waters for months.

Popular Mechanics report that the Orca will also potentially carry some serious weapons, with the ability to pack light and heavyweight torpedoes and lay mine. The US Naval Institute plans to use the Orca unmanned submarine for ‘mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, electronic warfare and strike missions’.