Navy Awards Largest Robotics Contract To Pittsburgh Firm To Accelerate Ship Maintenance

The U.S. Navy has awarded what appears to be its biggest procurement of robotic inspection services, contracting Pittsburgh-based Gecko Robotics under a five-year indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract that begins with a $54 million task order and carries a $71 million cap. The initial work will target 18 vessels assigned to the Pacific Fleet, officials said.

Gecko will supply inspection robots and sensors designed to map ship structures and feed a constantly updated virtual model of each hull and compartment. That computerized model will be used to flag wear, suggest repairs and, company executives say, shorten the time a ship needs to be docked for maintenance. The vendor’s software pairs the sensor data with scheduling tools to help maintenance planners prioritize work and reduce surprise breakdowns.

The award is being pitched as a tool to help the Navy reach a readiness objective of roughly four-fifths of its fleet available by 2027. Today about two-fifths of ships are taken out of circulation at any given moment because of extended maintenance cycles, a challenge that contributes to annual maintenance bills estimated between $13 billion and $20 billion. Navy leaders and defense contractors have cited faster diagnostics as one way to cut those out-of-service periods.

Gecko’s relationship with the Navy has grown over several years, the company says. After an initial pilot requested by a fleet engineer overseas, Gecko conducted targeted assessments and worked with shipyard teams to craft preventative plans. The new contract formalizes that work and expands the program’s scale to include a wider swath of the fleet in the Pacific theater.

“This agreement lets us deliver repeatable inspections and an actionable maintenance picture faster than traditional methods,” said Jake Loosararian, Gecko’s founder and chief executive, in a statement. He added the technology is intended to help maintainers know what needs attention while a ship is still at sea, reducing lengthy periods in repair yards.

Defense analysts caution the gains will depend on integration with existing maintenance systems and shipyard capacity. A retired surface warfare officer who studies fleet logistics said the tools could trim repair timelines if shipyards adopt the data and staffing levels keep pace. “Robots can find problems quicker, but the Navy will still need the people and parts to fix them,” the analyst said. Gecko executives note the same software and hardware could be marketed to civilian industries, such as power plants and utilities, that face similar asset‑inspection challenges.