Executive Summary:
The U.S. Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific has awarded a $349.4 million multi award contract to nine defense firms supporting unmanned maritime systems programs. The contract covers engineering, integration, testing, logistics, and operational support work tied to the Navy’s expanding autonomous maritime capabilities through 2034.
U.S. Navy Expands Unmanned Maritime Systems Support With $349M Contract
The U.S. Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific (NIWC Pacific) has awarded a $349.4 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to nine defense companies to support the development and sustainment of unmanned maritime systems.
The contract, announced by the U.S. Department of Defense, includes cost-plus-fixed-fee and cost-no-fee task orders supporting a broad range of technical and operational requirements tied to autonomous naval platforms and maritime technologies.
The award reflects the Navy’s continued investment in unmanned maritime systems as the service expands autonomous capabilities across surface and undersea missions. These systems are increasingly viewed as critical force multipliers for surveillance, intelligence gathering, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, logistics, and distributed maritime operations.
The nine selected contractors are:
- Abbott On Call Inc.
- Astrion Group LLC
- HII Mission Technologies Corp.
- ManTech Advanced Systems International Inc.
- Naval Systems Inc.
- Peraton Inc.
- Prescient Edge Corp.
- Science Applications International Corp.
- Serco Inc.
According to the Navy, the work will include specification and design activities, fabrication, development, integration, assembly, installation, testing, evaluation, fielding, operations, maintenance, training, logistics, documentation, configuration management, and program management support.
The majority of the work, approximately 90%, will be conducted in San Diego, with the remaining 10% taking place outside the continental United States.
The ordering period runs from May 12, 2026, through May 13, 2034.
Growing Importance Of Autonomous Naval Capabilities
The unmanned maritime systems contract comes as the U.S. Navy accelerates efforts to integrate autonomous platforms into future fleet operations.
In recent years, the Navy has expanded experimentation and procurement efforts involving unmanned surface vessels (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). These systems are designed to support distributed maritime operations, reduce operational risk to sailors, and extend surveillance and strike reach in contested environments.
Programs linked to autonomous maritime operations have gained increasing strategic importance amid rising naval competition in the Indo Pacific region. The Pentagon has repeatedly emphasized the role of autonomous and AI enabled systems in maintaining maritime deterrence and operational flexibility against near peer competitors.
The NIWC Pacific contract supports this broader modernization effort by ensuring long term engineering, integration, and sustainment capacity for emerging unmanned technologies.
Multi Award Structure Supports Long Term Competition
The IDIQ structure allows all nine companies to compete for individual task orders throughout the contract’s duration. Navy officials stated that no funds were obligated at the time of award, with funding tied to future task order issuance.
The contract was competitively procured under Request for Proposal N6600126R0018 through the U.S. government’s SAM.gov and Procurement Integrated Enterprise Environment solicitation systems.
According to the Navy, 21 proposals were submitted, with nine companies ultimately selected for award.
The contract underscores how the Department of Defense increasingly relies on multi vendor acquisition strategies to maintain flexibility, encourage competition, and accelerate technology delivery timelines in fast evolving operational sectors such as autonomous warfare and maritime systems integration.
Strategic Implications For Naval Modernization
The latest unmanned maritime systems contract highlights the Navy’s focus on scalable autonomous capabilities as part of long term fleet modernization plans.
Autonomous maritime platforms are expected to play a larger operational role across intelligence collection, anti submarine warfare, mine countermeasure missions, and logistics support. Analysts also view unmanned systems as essential to enabling distributed operations in highly contested maritime environments where survivability and persistent presence are critical.
By extending technical and operational support contracts through 2034, the Navy is positioning itself to sustain ongoing experimentation while transitioning selected unmanned systems into operational fleet use.
The award also reflects continued demand for specialized defense industry expertise in systems integration, software support, testing, cybersecurity, and lifecycle sustainment for autonomous naval technologies.
