U.S. Navy signs $71M robotics deal to boost fleet readiness

Gecko Robotics has signed a five-year contract with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. General Services Administration, the company announced on Tuesday. The contract is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) agreement, which allows the government to procure an unspecified amount of services over a set period.

The financial structure of the agreement includes:

• An initial award of $54 million
• A contract ceiling of $71 million

Under the agreement, the Navy will use the company’s robots and sensors to monitor the status and health of its assets and fleets, starting with 18 ships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The robots will crawl the vessels to create a “digital twin”—a detailed digital replica of a physical asset. The company’s software will then help the Navy monitor these assets and recommend maintenance, aiming to address issues before they arise and reduce overall maintenance times and costs.

The partnership is intended to help the Navy reach its goal of 80% ship readiness by 2027. Currently, about 40% of the Navy’s fleet is unavailable at any given time due to maintenance cycles. According to Gecko founder and CEO Jake Loosararian, these maintenance cycles cost between $13 billion and $20 billion annually. Loosararian noted that keeping assets operational is critical at a time when the Navy needs every asset it can get, especially as the fleet continues to age. “Once you create that digital representation using the robotic systems of the health and the condition of these assets, and even the digitization of the environment itself, then you can accelerate how quickly you can make decisions and repair,” Loosararian said.

The deal follows a four-year working relationship between Gecko and the U.S. Navy. The partnership began after a port engineer stationed in Japan reached out to learn more about the company’s capabilities. Gecko subsequently conducted an evaluation and drew up a preventative maintenance plan. Loosararian stated that the company’s work helps ensure critical assets live as long as possible and avoid downtime, with the ultimate vision of knowing what to fix while ships are actively deployed.

Why it matters

The deal highlights the military’s push to modernize maintenance through digital infrastructure, aiming to solve the massive cost and downtime associated with keeping aging naval assets operational. By integrating robotics and digital modeling, the Navy seeks to streamline its repair pipelines and improve fleet availability.