Gecko Robotics lands $71M US Navy contract to deploy AI ship inspection robots across Pacific Fleet

Gecko Robotics Secures Largest Navy Robotics Contract

The US Navy and General Services Administration awarded a five-year contract worth up to $71 million to Gecko Robotics, marking the largest robotics deal the Navy has signed to date 1

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. The initial award stands at $54 million, with the contract structured to allow any branch of the Department of Defense to access the Pittsburgh-based company's AI and robotics technology 2

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. This next-gen defense technology deployment represents a fundamental shift in how the military approaches naval ship maintenance, addressing a crisis that has left roughly 40% of the Navy's fleet unavailable at any given time 4

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Wall-Climbing Robots Transform Pacific Fleet Inspections

Gecko Robotics will immediately begin work on 18 ships in the Pacific Fleet over the next nine months, including destroyers, amphibious warships, and littoral combat ships 2

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. The company's wall-climbing robots, drones, and fixed sensors crawl across hulls and decks, gathering detailed structural data from environments that are difficult or unsafe for human inspectors 5

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. These machines inspect critical structures including hulls, welds, and internal components, collecting data points that would take human inspectors weeks to gather 4

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. Gecko currently operates a fleet of roughly 250 robots across both commercial and government customers and plans to build 50 to 60 more this year 2

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AI-Powered Platform Creates Digital Twins of Ships

The robotic structural data collection feeds into Cantilever, Gecko's AI-powered platform that converts raw information into detailed digital twins of each vessel—a living, updatable model of the ship's structural health 4

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. The system can identify necessary repairs up to 50 times faster and more accurately than manual inspection techniques, detecting corrosion and cracks that might otherwise go unnoticed 1

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. In one documented case, a single robotic evaluation of a flight deck eliminated more than three months of potential maintenance delays 2

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. CEO Jake Loosararian emphasized that the company's robots can condense a three-month process down to as little as two days 3

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. The digital models enable predictive decision-making by allowing inspections to happen before a ship even reaches dry dock, meaning the right parts and personnel can be staged in advance 4

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Addressing a Maintenance Backlog Crisis

The maintenance backlog costs somewhere between $13 billion and $20 billion annually, according to Loosararian, who noted that "at a time when you need every asset you can get, that's pretty critical" 4

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. Defense One reported that just 41% of ships completed repairs on time in 2025, well short of the Navy's 71% goal 4

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. The Navy has since reset its target to above 60%, with the broader ambition to improve fleet readiness to 80% combat surge readiness by 2027 4

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. Loosararian stated this effort will help ensure ships remain deployment-ready: "This is the kind of stuff that was never possible before, and it's the reason why it's taken 18 months to get a destroyer out of the dry dock. This is not acceptable anymore" 3

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Strategic Implications for Defense Industry

The contract arrives as the US increases its reliance on defense technology startups like Gecko to modernize dated military systems amid rising geopolitical tensions 3

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. These companies are increasingly disrupting traditional mainstay defense contractors with innovative artificial intelligence and autonomous tech solutions. Since taking office, President Donald Trump has prioritized scaling US shipbuilding capabilities, which have long lagged behind China, releasing a multi-page plan in February to revive the sector 3

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. Gecko has previously deployed its TOKA series robots on destroyers, amphibious vessels, and aircraft carriers, and partnered with defense contractor L3Harris on digital twins for military aircraft 4

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. Earlier this year, the company partnered with BPMI to cut inspection times on nuclear carrier and submarine components by up to 90% 4

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. The company was last valued at $1.25 billion following a Series D round led by Cox Enterprises in June 2025, bringing its total funding to $173 million 4

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. Loosararian emphasized the strategic advantage: "Software is not enough, and your ability to use artificial intelligence to predict and make decision advantages is only as good as the data inputs" 3

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. The ability to reduce maintenance delays while improving accuracy positions this technology as critical for maintaining naval superiority in an era where every deployment-ready vessel matters.