---
title: "Oh Look, Boeing Made a Scary Giant Robot Submarine"
description: "It can loiter beneath the seas for six months. Anyone else terrified?"
date: "2016-03-24"
modified: "2016-03-24"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/2706/oh-look-boeing-made-a-scary-giant-robot-submarine"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "boats"
  - "Boeing"
  - "Drones"
  - "Military"
  - "submarines"
---

# Oh Look, Boeing Made a Scary Giant Robot Submarine

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/boeing-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

With the new Echo Voyager, Boeing's secret Phantom Works division has brought us yet another step closer to robotic domination of land, sea, and air. [51 feet long, weighing 50 tons, capable of diving to 11,000 feet and ranging autonomously for up to six months at a time](<https://www.wired.com/2016/03/boeings-monstrous-underwater-robot-can-wander-ocean-6-months/>), it's Boeing's first unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) that doesn't require a support ship. And it can be loaded up with anything from sensors, to cargo...to weaponry.

*Gulp*.

In propulsory terms, the Echo Voyager isn't much different from [the diesel-electric subs that quietly threaten America's aircraft carriers to this day](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/2214/darpa-launching-132-foot-drone-ship>). Power comes from massive lithium-ion or silver zinc battery packs, and when those run low after a couple days the robo-sub pops to the surface where its diesel-powered generator can suck in air and fart out exhaust while recharging the power cells. With a full load of a thousand gallons of diesel on board, the Echo Voyager can travel 7,500 miles before it needs to hit up a truck stop.

While its torpedo-like design might cause you to think it was made for military action, Boeing says they developed the Echo Voyager for a wide variety of customers. Jammed with redundant systems and equipped with satellite uplinks affixed to a retractable periscope, the UUV makes for a prime platform for mapping out undersea pipeline routes or monitoring deep-sea water quality. Still, look carefully amongst the rapidly-scrolling list of potential missions in the video below, and you'll see "reconnaissance," "submarine decoy," and, most eerily, "weapons platform."

Well, at least now that [waterproof Johns Hopkins quadcopter drone](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/2645/johns-hopkins-built-an-amphibious-quadcopter-drone>) will have an autonomous big brother to ride around on and conspire against mankind with.

https://youtube.com/embed/L9vPxC-qucw

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)