Posted on October 29, 2025
“This marks the beginning of deeper collaboration between not only our companies, but each of our countries, that will support enduring changes to military and commercial shipbuilding in America,” HII executive Eric Chewning said in the announcement.
WASHINGTON — American shipbuilder HII and South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries have signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue “strategic teaming opportunities” for US Navy auxiliary shipbuilding programs.
“This marks the beginning of deeper collaboration between not only our companies, but each of our countries, that will support enduring changes to military and commercial shipbuilding in America,” HII executive Eric Chewning said in the announcement. “We look forward to working collaboratively with HHI, the U.S. and South Korean governments, and with our customers to transform the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base and enable accelerated throughput in our shipyards.”
The companies earlier this month agreed to jointly pursue the design contract for the US Navy’s next-generation logistics ship program. That ship is envisioned to be a smaller vessel relative to current platforms and be able to refuel, rearm and resupply the fleet in “contested and non-contested environments,” according to a notice published by Naval Sea Systems Command.
The service is planning to buy 13 new logistics ships beginning in fiscal 2028, and recently received $100 million in advance procurement funding from reconciliation spending, according to the Congressional Research Service. The Navy previously awarded Austal USA, Bollinger Shipyards and TAI Engineers contracts for industries studies to inform the new ship’s costs and capabilities trade-offs — a list that could preview who will ultimately compete for the program of record.
“Through joint participation in U.S. Navy procurement programs and investments aimed at establishing ship production bases in the United States, the two nations’ key industries are taking a major step toward deeper strategic collaboration.” HHI President Joo Won-ho said. “We are confident that this partnership will generate powerful synergies by combining Korea’s cutting-edge shipbuilding technologies with the U.S. defense sector’s strong market competitiveness.”
The companies’ announcement is the latest in an ongoing string of engagements between the United States, its shipbuilding industrial base and their counterparts in South Korea and Japan. That trend was initiated by former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro during the Biden administration under an initiative that he dubbed “maritime statecraft.”
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