The U.S. Navy has awarded a substantial contract worth nearly $100 million to enhance its artificial intelligence capabilities for detecting Iranian mines in the strategically important Strait of Hormuz, according to recently disclosed contract information.
San Francisco-based Domino Data Lab received the contract to develop advanced AI software that can rapidly train underwater drones to recognize different types of explosive devices. This technology aims to dramatically reduce the time needed to clear mines from one of the world’s most vital shipping corridors for oil transport.
The contract, valued at up to $99.7 million, expands Domino’s involvement in the Navy’s Project AMMO — Accelerated Machine Learning for Maritime Operations — which seeks to make underwater mine detection more efficient, precise, and less reliant on human personnel.
“Mine-hunting used to be a job for ships,” explained Thomas Robinson, Domino’s chief operating officer, in a Reuters interview. “It’s becoming a job for AI. The Navy is paying for the platform that lets it train, govern, and field that AI at a speed required for contested waters that block global trade and imperil sailors.”
The AI platform combines information from various sensor technologies, including side-scan sonar and visual imaging equipment, while allowing Navy officials to track the effectiveness of different detection models in real-time and implement improvements as needed.
The technology’s primary advantage lies in its rapid deployment capability. Previously, updating AI systems aboard unmanned underwater vehicles to recognize new or unfamiliar mine designs required up to six months. Domino’s innovation has shortened this timeframe to just days.
Robinson provided a practical example of the system’s strategic value: “If there were UUVs in the Baltic Sea trained on Russian mines, and then they needed to be deployed to the Strait of Hormuz to detect Iranian mines, with Domino’s technology, the Navy could be ready in a week rather than a year.”
President Trump has stated that Navy forces are actively removing Iranian mines from the strait, a crucial waterway whose disruption poses significant threats to the global economy. The mine-sweeping operation could extend for months despite an unstable ceasefire following weeks of conflict between the United States and Iran.
Navy representatives were not immediately available to provide additional comments on the contract award.
