# The Anchorage Address > An Alaska Native-owned firm just won a $24.96M Navy contract for autonomous stealth boats. They will be built in Oregon. Published 2026-07-14 by Alaska AI. 8 slides. Canonical: https://alaskaaihq.com/archive/2026-07-14/ ## The story The boat is Alaskan. The shipyard is not. An Anchorage, Native-owned firm won a $24.96M Navy contract for autonomous stealth vessels. They will be built in Oregon. The Navy did not shop around. AMOUNT $24,960,408 · FOR autonomous low-profile vessels · TO ReconCraft LLC, Anchorage, Alaska · BUILT IN Clackamas, Oregon · DONE BY November 2028 · BOUGHT sole source, no competition · PAID FROM FY2026 innovative technologies (Navy) Built to show almost nothing. FREEBOARD under 0.61 m · LENGTH about 19.75 m (65 ft) · PAYLOAD 2,000 to 4,627 kg · RANGE about 2,200 nautical miles. The hull is borrowed from narco-submarines, tuned to beat radar, sonar, sight and heat. No crew. Not yet a mind. What the Navy wants next, run itself in crowded ports, with GPS jammed and comms down. What it does today, no one aboard, driven by remote control and pre-set waypoints. Autonomous is the plan, not yet the whole reality. A set-aside did the winning. The Navy bought this sole source under the SBA 8(a) program, the federal channel that routes contracts to Native-owned and disadvantaged small firms. Native-owned, tribally owned, 8(a) certified through Dec 2, 2026. The program is doing what it was built to do. Owned up here. Welded down there. ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, incorporated here, Native-owned, the address on the contract. CLACKAMAS, OREGON, the shipyard, where the steel is actually cut, hulls up to 120 ft. Two states, one boat, one flag on the contract. Alaska's seat in the robot-boat boom is an ownership stake, not a shipyard. That is a real Alaska Native business win. It is also most of what Alaska's slice looks like right now. An Alaska industry, or just an Alaska address? If a Native-owned firm wins the contract but the boats are built Outside, does the win count as Alaska's? Tell me where you land. Sources in the comments. ## What we verified - Naval Sea Systems Command awarded ReconCraft LLC, Anchorage, Alaska, a $24,960,408 firm-fixed-price contract for autonomous low-profile vessels. [U.S. Department of War (DoD) daily contracts](https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4538357/contracts-for-july-8-2026/), report, 2026-07-08. - Current ALPVs operate with no onboard personnel using remote control and waypoint navigation, with provisions for enhanced autonomous capability in the future; the Defense Innovation Unit wants them to navigate autonomously in congested waters and when communications and GPS are denied. [Army Recognition](https://armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2025/us-marines-train-in-japan-with-alpv-autonomous-low-profile-vessel-based-on-narco-submarine-designs-for-stealth-operations), report, 2025-04-24. - ReconCraft has a track record of Navy special-operations and patrol craft, including a 2023 contract worth about $35.9 million for a dozen 40-foot patrol boats and a role in a combined $290 million patrol-boat award alongside Louisiana-based Metal Shark for the Navy's Naval Expeditionary Combat Command. [Shephard Media](https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/naval-warfare/us-navy-contracts-alaskan-reconcraft-for-new-patrol-boats/), report, 2023-04-25. - Trade and general reporting placed the award one day after Iran fired missiles at a third commercial ship in the Strait of Hormuz, framing the timing against renewed maritime-security pressure (context only, not central to the Alaska story). [Tech Times](https://www.techtimes.com/articles/320018/20260709/navy-awards-25m-stealthy-autonomous-boats-days-after-iran-breaks-hormuz-truce.htm), report, 2026-07-09. - The award was announced in the Department's July 8, 2026 contracts list; the contract number is N00024-26-C-6324. [U.S. Department of War](https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4538357/contracts-for-july-8-2026/), report, 2026-07-08. - Work will be performed in Clackamas, Oregon, and is expected to be completed by November 2028. [U.S. Department of War](https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4538357/contracts-for-july-8-2026/), report, 2026-07-08. - The contract was not competitively procured, in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulation 19.805-1(b)(2), the sole-source authority under the SBA 8(a) Business Development program. [U.S. Department of War](https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4538357/contracts-for-july-8-2026/), report, 2026-07-08. - The award is funded from the Navy's fiscal 2026 account for accelerated procurement and fielding of innovative technologies; the full $24,960,408 was obligated at award and expires at the end of the current fiscal year. [U.S. Department of War](https://www.war.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4538357/contracts-for-july-8-2026/), report, 2026-07-08. - ReconCraft LLC is incorporated in Alaska and headquartered in Anchorage, and holds SBA 8(a) certification and Native American / tribally-owned small-business status. [HigherGov (SAM.gov-sourced awardee profile)](https://www.highergov.com/awardee/reconcraft-llc-10114995/), report, 2026-07. - ReconCraft's manufacturing facility is in Clackamas, Oregon; the company's own website lists its address as 9891 SE Mather Rd., Clackamas, OR 97015 and says it builds vessels up to 120 feet, 'Proudly Manufactured in the USA.'. [ReconCraft LLC (company site)](https://reconcraft.com/), report, 2026-07. - An autonomous low-profile vessel (ALPV) is an uncrewed, semi-submersible craft whose configuration was influenced by narco-submarines; it rides low with most of the structure submerged to minimize radar, sonar, visual and infrared detection. [Army Recognition](https://armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2025/us-marines-train-in-japan-with-alpv-autonomous-low-profile-vessel-based-on-narco-submarine-designs-for-stealth-operations), report, 2025-04-24. - ALPV class figures (a documented program design), about 19.75 meters (roughly 65 feet) long, less than 0.61 meters of freeboard at operating displacement, payload roughly 2,000 to 4,627 kilograms, and an operational range near 2,200 nautical miles at about 8 knots. [Army Recognition](https://armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2025/us-marines-train-in-japan-with-alpv-autonomous-low-profile-vessel-based-on-narco-submarine-designs-for-stealth-operations), report, 2025-04-24. Slides and the deck PDF are linked from the canonical page.