One of the largest U.S. defense contractors, Boeing has been awarded a $46,7 million U.S. Navy contract modification for the Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV) program.

According to a statement released by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Feb. 13, 2019, contract announcement for the XLUUV program occurred while source selection was ongoing, and therefore the specific contract award amount was considered source selection sensitive information and was not made public.

This contract modification award completes the XLUUV competition and brings the total awarded amount for five XLUUVs and associated support elements to $274,4 million.

A new giant unmanned submarine is a fully autonomous extra large unmanned undersea vehicle class UUV that can be used for a variety of missions that were previously impossible due to traditional UUV limitations.

The XLUUV will be modular in construction with the core vehicle providing guidance and control, navigation, autonomy, situational awareness, core communications, power distribution, energy and power, propulsion and maneuvering, and mission sensors.