Fuse Integration Inc. of San Diego, California, has been awarded a $96,091,173 firm-fixed-price order to deliver tactical-edge networking hardware to the Navy, according to a Defense Department contract announcement carried by GlobalSecurity.org on May 27, 2026. The order, issued against a previously issued basic ordering agreement, funds the company's KRAKEN family of secure networking systems and the underlying CORE network controllers that knit dispersed sensors and shooters into a single resilient mesh. The announcement landed in the Pentagon's routine daily contract digest, the same channel through which the bulk of Navy procurement actions are first disclosed publicly.
The award is one of the more substantial recent procurements aimed squarely at the U.S. military's tactical-edge networking problem: how to move targeting-quality sensor data across air, ground and maritime forces when satellite links are contested and traditional line-of-sight radios fall short. For federal contractors tracking where the Navy is putting its modernization dollars, the order is a clear signal that Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) mesh networking has moved from experiment to fielded program of record.
What the Navy Is Buying
According to the announcement, the order covers 40 CORE 5 network controller kits, 32 KRAKENs and 12 KRAKEN Mobile units. The work supports the Navy's "Tactical Edge Network for Targeting in a Contested Long-Range Environment" architecture, which is built to sustain Beyond Line of Sight mesh networks across a distributed force.
That phrasing matters. "Targeting in a contested long-range environment" is shorthand for the long-range fires mission the Navy and the wider joint force have prioritized in the Indo-Pacific, where great distances and adversary jamming make it hard to close the sensor-to-shooter loop. The CORE 5 controllers and KRAKEN nodes are the connective tissue meant to keep that loop intact when individual links degrade. By spreading traffic across multiple BLOS paths and mesh links rather than relying on any single satellite or radio channel, the architecture is designed to keep targeting data flowing even as portions of the network are jammed or lost.
Contract Terms and Performance
The order carries contract number N0042126F0369 and was issued by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, which serves as the contracting and technical authority for the effort. Work is split between two sites: 80 percent in San Diego, California, where Fuse Integration is headquartered, and 20 percent at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland. Performance is expected to be complete in February 2028.
One detail stands out for the contractor community. Per the announcement, the action was not competed. Instead, the Navy placed it as a firm-fixed-price order against an existing basic ordering agreement with Fuse Integration. A basic ordering agreement is not a contract that obligates work on its own; it is a pre-negotiated framework that lets an agency issue priced orders quickly once a vendor relationship and terms are established. Sole-source awards of this kind are routine when a specialized, proprietary system like KRAKEN has no ready substitute, but they are worth flagging plainly: this was not an open competition, and the dollars flowed to an incumbent through a vehicle already in place.
Contractors
Fuse Integration is a San Diego-based engineering firm that designs networking, communications and avionics systems for defense customers, and it sits in the small-business tier of the defense industrial base rather than among the prime integrators that typically headline nine-figure awards. Winning a firm-fixed-price order north of $96 million as the named contractor places the company in the role of prime for a meaningful Navy networking program.
The product at the center of the order is KRAKEN, which Fuse describes on its product page as a suite of integrated systems built to "extend secure networks to tactical platforms." The company says KRAKEN combines tactical and IP links into an affordable, mission-flexible system, leaning on its CORE multi-function network controller together with hybrid SATCOM, multiple BLOS links, mesh networks and tactical networks. The stated payoff is the "bi-directional exchange of sensor data across domains," spanning air, ground and maritime forces for joint, coalition and commercial platforms.
KRAKEN is offered in several variants tailored to different platforms. KRAKEN 18 mounts on standard wing pylons for rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, including Group 3 and 4 unmanned systems. KRAKEN 26 is a larger pod sized for bombers and tankers supporting long-range fires. The KRAKEN Expeditionary Gateway, or KEG, packages the capability for remote, austere locations across air, ground and maritime domains. KRAKEN Mobile, the variant included in this order, is an FAA-compliant portable system that fits in a carry-on bag and weighs roughly 40 pounds, letting personnel carry the network with them. Fuse emphasizes that the design keeps a common networking baseline while allowing radio links to be swapped, so new emerging technologies can be integrated without re-architecting the system.
What It Means for Contractors
For companies that sell into defense networking, the award reinforces a few durable themes. First, the Navy is buying capability that treats resilient, multi-path connectivity as a weapon-system enabler rather than back-office IT. CORE controllers, hybrid SATCOM and BLOS mesh networks are the architecture the service is paying for, and that demand signal is likely to pull through more subsystems, integration services and sustainment work over the program's life.
Second, the structure of the deal is instructive. Holding a basic ordering agreement with a Navy buying activity let Fuse Integration capture a large priced order without a fresh competition. For small and mid-sized firms, that underscores the value of getting onto pre-negotiated vehicles early; the agreements themselves rarely make headlines, but they are where follow-on dollars often land.
Third, the award is a concrete example of a small business serving as prime on a sophisticated, nine-figure networking effort. That is the kind of outcome federal small-business programs are designed to produce, and it offers a reference point for similarly sized vendors weighing whether to pursue prime roles on specialized defense technology rather than settling for subcontractor positions.
With performance running through February 2028 and deliverables spanning 40 CORE 5 kits, 32 KRAKENs and 12 KRAKEN Mobile units, the order gives Fuse Integration a multi-year footing inside the Navy's tactical-edge networking portfolio and a visible track record to carry into future BLOS and long-range-fires competitions.
