How Much Does a Mk 48 Torpedo Cost?

Published on March 5, 2026 | Written by Alec Pow
This article was researched using 11 sources. See our methodology and corrections policy.

The Mark 48 is the U.S. Navy’s heavyweight submarine-launched torpedo for anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare.

In U.S. budget documents, the implied procurement figure can land in the low single-digit millions per new round, and it moves year to year with quantity and what gets bundled into the line item. In the FY 2025 President’s Budget Navy procurement exhibit, the Navy shows 79 MK-48 torpedoes for $333.147 million, which implies about $4.22 million per torpedo based on that request.

That number is not a retail price and it is not a quote. It is a budget line that can include different mixes of hardware and support, and many contract details are not priced in a way that maps cleanly to a single “sticker price” for one torpedo.

When people talk about MK-48 cost, they are usually talking about a per-round number for new production, or a per-conversion-kit number when an allied navy modernizes older stock. Mod variant (Mod 7, related upgrades), the buy quantity, and how much handling, test, and training gear is packaged with the weapon are the main levers.

On paper, the price story connects a handful of recurring entities and line items: the OUSD Comptroller publishing the procurement displays, NAVSEA and NUWC Keyport managing undersea weapons work, DSCA notifications that bundle “conversion kits” with containers and support gear, and contractors showing up in awards for guidance, spares, production support material, engineering support, and hardware repair.

TL;DR: A Mark 48 torpedo can pencil out around $4 million to $5 million per new round in recent U.S. budget math, with upgrade kits often showing a lower per-kit figure because they start with an existing torpedo body.

Important numbers

Jump to sections

• FY 2025 request: 79 MK-48 torpedoes for $333.147 million (from the FY 2025 P-1 display)
• FY 2023 actuals: 28 MK-48 torpedoes for $151.128 million (same FY25 funding tables context, listed as “actuals” in the procurement exhibits)
• Netherlands upgrade package: 40 conversion kits for $150 million (from the Netherlands DSCA notice)
• Canada upgrade package: 12 conversion kits for $41 million (from the Canada DSCA notice)

How Much Does a Mk 48 Torpedo Cost?

The cleanest public way to talk about MK-48 pricing is to use a procurement exhibit that puts quantity and total dollars on the same line. In the FY 2025 P-1 display, the Navy’s MK-48 line shows 79 torpedoes and $333.147 million (quantity and total cost).

That implies about $4.22 million each because $333.147 million divided by 79 is roughly $4.22 million, using the same P-1 display inputs (FY 2025 P-1 row).

Fiscal year (P-1)	Quantity	Total cost shown	Implied per torpedo
FY 2023 actuals	28	$151.128 million	$5.40 million
FY 2024 request with CR adjustments	78	$308.497 million	$3.95 million
FY 2025 request	79	$333.147 million	$4.22 million

Those implied unit figures come from the same P-1 display line item, so the comparison is apples-to-apples in the narrow sense (FY 2023–FY 2025 values). The swing is still meaningful: FY 2023 implies about $5.40 million each ($151.128 million divided by 28), and FY 2024 implies about $3.95 million each ($308.497 million divided by 78), using the same line-item math.

What The Mark 48 is

The Mark 48 is a heavyweight torpedo designed to be fired from submarine torpedo tubes against ships and submarines. When the Navy buys “MK-48 Torpedo” in procurement documents, it is buying a military munition with specialized guidance, propulsion, and undersea integration, not something a private buyer can order, insure, or store in a civilian way.

Even within “MK-48,” the paperwork can refer to different slices of the system. You will see references to guidance and control, warhead-related items, afterbody sections, containers, handling gear, and test support. Some buys are aimed at brand-new production rounds. Others modernize older torpedoes using conversion kits, which can look cheaper per unit on paper because the buyer is upgrading an existing inventory instead of starting from zero.

Mark 48 versus other Navy munitions

Readers often compare MK-48 pricing to missiles because missiles dominate headlines. The better comparison is about what drives cost: undersea munitions integrate guidance for a noisy environment, submarine handling constraints, and a production base that does not look like mass-market missile production. The Navy has also been looking at concepts for a cheaper heavyweight torpedo, which puts the MK-48’s “buy and sustain” model in context.

If you want a mental map, think in buckets. A cruise missile story is often about the missile round plus launcher integration. A heavyweight torpedo story is often about the round plus depot-level work, repair pipelines, containers, and submarine-specific support gear. That context is useful when you compare other U.S. munitions discussions, such as Tomahawk missile costs, because the procurement logic is similar even when the operating domain differs.

What “All Up Round” contracts cover

DoD contract announcements around the MK-48 regularly use “All Up Round” language, but the details show why contract totals are not a direct per-torpedo price tag. A May 2024 Navy contract release describes work that includes “production, spares, production support material, engineering support, and hardware repair” for MK-48 All Up Round components, with an award value of $143,330,865 (award description and amount).

A Feb. 2023 contract release uses similar language for options tied to MK-48 Mod 7 work, with an award value of $102,475,669 (options award notice). Those announcements are useful because they name the cost drivers that hide inside procurement: spares, production support material, engineering support, and hardware repair. They are not written as “X torpedoes for Y dollars,” so they read more like supply-chain funding than a receipt for a specific number of complete torpedoes.

New-build rounds vs upgrading older stock

The MK-48 story has two public price signals that can look similar but mean different things. One is the U.S. Navy’s procurement line for new torpedoes. The other is DSCA “conversion kit” notices that describe allied buys to modernize older torpedoes. In those DSCA notices, the buyer is not paying for a brand-new torpedo from scratch. The buyer is paying to convert an existing torpedo inventory into a newer configuration, plus support.

Those upgrades also show why you will see contractor names tied to a piece of the weapon rather than the full round. Lockheed Martin has publicly discussed MK-48 Mod 7 guidance and control work, and production support can show up under other primes and integrators. Separately, SAIC announced a $102 million award connected to torpedo production support, which is the kind of spend that can be real even when it does not translate into a “per torpedo” invoice line.

Real purchase contexts

Case 1: U.S. Navy procurement math (FY 2025 request). The P-1 display shows 79 torpedoes for $333.147 million, implying about $4.22 million per torpedo when you divide total by quantity (based on the FY 2025 P-1 line). This is a defensible way to talk about a “per torpedo” number publicly, but it is still budget math and can move with what gets packaged into that fiscal-year buy.

Case 2: Netherlands conversion kits, support-heavy package. The DSCA notice totals $150 million for 40 conversion kits plus a long list that includes containers, support and test equipment, spare and repair parts, weapon system support and integration, publications, and personnel training (listed items and total). That implies about $3.75 million per kit because $150 million divided by 40 is $3.75 million, and the per-kit figure already includes non-hardware line items.

Case 3: Canada conversion kits, smaller package. Canada’s notice totals $41 million for 12 conversion kits with containers, spares, integration support, publications, training equipment, and logistics support (Canada package total). That implies about $3.42 million per kit because $41 million divided by 12 is about $3.42 million, and DSCA totals are program estimates rather than a final invoice.

Hidden costs that push totals up

When MK-48 numbers look “high,” the reason is often that the torpedo is treated as a system with long-tail support, not a single tube-launched object. DSCA notices spell out what rides along: containers, “support and test equipment,” spare and repair parts, weapon system support and integration, publications and technical documentation, “personnel training and training equipment,” plus government and contractor engineering and logistics support (Netherlands item list).

A practical way to frame the add-ons is to treat DSCA totals as a bundled package number, not a clean hardware-only price. Using the DSCA inputs, the Canada package implies about $3.42 million per kit and the Netherlands package implies about $3.75 million per kit, so the public per-kit span is roughly $3.4 million to $3.8 million when you divide each package total by its kit count (from the Canada notice totals and the Netherlands notice totals already cited above). That still leaves out local submarine maintenance labor and any shore-side infrastructure work that is paid outside the DSCA estimate.

Worked total example

The Netherlands notice estimates $150 million for 40 MK-48 conversion kits plus containers, support and test equipment, spare and repair parts, weapon system support and integration, publications, training equipment, and engineering and logistics support (program estimate summary).

• Conversion kits and listed support items total $150,000,000.
• Divide $150,000,000 by 40 kits to get an implied package figure of $3,750,000 per kit.
• That $3.75 million per kit includes containers and support gear, so it should not be compared directly to a “torpedo only” hardware price.

This example also leaves out costs that can exist outside the DSCA estimate, such as local submarine maintenance work, local training time, and any infrastructure changes in the receiving navy. Capability work and test requirements can also show up in Navy test reporting, including MK-48 references in DOT&E reporting, which is useful context for why “support and test equipment” appears in these packages.

Article Highlights

• The FY 2025 P-1 display implies about $4.22 million per MK-48 torpedo based on $333.147 million divided by 79.
• Implied unit cost moves year to year inside the same line item as quantity and what is packaged with the buy changes.
• Contract award totals often cover spares, production support material, engineering support, and repair, not just complete rounds.
• DSCA conversion-kit notices bundle containers, support and test equipment, training, and integration into the same program estimate.
• Two public DSCA examples imply about $3.4 million to $3.8 million per conversion kit when you divide the package estimate by the kit count.

Answers to Common Questions

Is the Mark 48 torpedo price publicly listed like a consumer product?

No. The closest public “unit” math comes from procurement exhibits that show quantity and total dollars on the same line.

Why do DSCA conversion-kit totals look lower than the implied new torpedo number?

A conversion kit modernizes an existing torpedo inventory, and the DSCA total is a program estimate that includes support items and services, not a retail unit price for a brand-new round.

Do DoD contract award values tell you how many torpedoes were bought?

Not reliably. Many MK-48-related awards describe components, spares, production support material, engineering support, and hardware repair, which do not map neatly to a torpedo count.