Peraton wins U.S. Navy deal to keep MK 18 underwater drones mission-ready

Peraton has landed a U.S. Navy contract worth up to $90.7 million to keep the MK 18 family of explosive ordnance disposal underwater drones operational across fleet commands at home and at key overseas locations, with work running from San Diego to Spain, Bahrain, and Okinawa.

Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific awarded the cost-reimbursement contract on May 4, 2026, with a base value of $17,3 million covering one year of performance from May 4, 2026, through May 3, 2027. Four one-year options, if all exercised, would bring the total potential value to $90,6 million and extend the period of performance through May 2031, according to the Department of War’s contracts announcement. The work breaks down geographically as 65 percent in San Diego, 15 percent at Little Creek, Virginia, and 20 percent at various locations outside the continental United States including Spain, Bahrain, and Okinawa.

The MK 18 is the Navy’s primary family of man-portable underwater unmanned vehicles used for mine countermeasures and explosive ordnance disposal. The system comes in multiple variants built around different payload and mission requirements, but the common thread across the family is providing EOD divers and operators with the ability to survey underwater environments, locate mines and other hazards, and support clearance operations without putting personnel directly in harm’s way during the initial reconnaissance phase. Fleet commands that have fielded MK 18 systems require sustained technical support to keep those systems mission-ready, and the Peraton contract covers both operational support and fleet support representative functions at the commands operating the equipment.

The geographic footprint of the contract tells you something about where the Navy is actively operating MK 18 systems. San Diego as the dominant work location reflects the system’s west coast logistics and support infrastructure, anchored at Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, which serves as the contracting activity. Little Creek, Virginia, is home to Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and significant EOD and expeditionary warfare infrastructure on the east coast. The overseas locations — Spain, Bahrain, and Okinawa — map directly onto the Navy’s three primary forward-deployed theater frameworks: European and Mediterranean operations supported from Rota, the Fifth Fleet area of operations centered on Bahrain, and the western Pacific supported from Okinawa. Peraton personnel operating at those locations will be providing fleet support representative services embedded with or alongside the commands using MK 18 systems in those theaters.

Peraton is a defense technology company that has built a significant portfolio in government and defense information technology, intelligence services, and systems support since its formation. The MK 18 support contract fits within its broader expeditionary and maritime support work, where maintaining operational readiness of fielded systems at forward locations requires the kind of persistent, embedded technical support that Peraton structures its workforce around.

The funding structure for the base award is worth noting. Two appropriation streams fund the contract — operations and maintenance Navy funds, which cover day-to-day fleet support activities, and research, development, test, and evaluation funds, which typically cover technical work associated with system improvements, testing of new configurations, or support to development activities running in parallel with fleet operations. Of the funds obligated at award, $6,475,333 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year, meaning that portion must be spent before September 30, 2026, or be returned to the treasury. That expiration constraint is a routine feature of annual appropriations, but it sets a pace expectation for how quickly the initial work must proceed.

Underwater mine threats remain a significant and persistent concern for naval operations, and the investment in keeping MK 18 systems operational across five years and multiple theaters reflects how seriously the Navy treats that threat. Mines are cheap, difficult to detect, and capable of denying access to ports, straits, and littoral areas in ways that force expensive and time-consuming countermeasures operations. An unmanned system that can survey and characterize an underwater environment without committing divers to initial reconnaissance reduces both risk and the time required to clear a hazard. Keeping those systems mission-ready at Bahrain, Okinawa, and Spain means the Navy has fielded EOD unmanned capability pre-positioned in the locations where the access-denial threat is most relevant to operational planning.