"Can 10 Warships Be Built?" After Trump’s Remarks, U.S. Requests Information on Combat and Refueling Ships from Korean Shipbuilders

The U.S. government has formally asked Korea’s shipbuilding industry about its capabilities to build and design combat ships and logistics support vessels, moving Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation beyond policy discussions and into the practical stage. As this is the first case in which Donald Trump’s MASGA initiative — short for "Make American Shipbuilding Great Again" — has led to an actual business review process, attention is now turning to whether the U.S. market for warship construction will open up.
According to industry sources on the 8th, the United States Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy recently sent a request for information, or RFI, to major Korean shipbuilders regarding the construction of combat ships and medium-sized refueling ships. Since the Trump administration took office and Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation began to be discussed in earnest, this is the first time the U.S. government has officially sent an RFI to Korean shipyards.
Under the U.S. Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), an RFI is a procedure used by the government before launching a project to assess market technology, supply capacity, price competitiveness, and delivery schedules. Although it is not legally binding, it is widely seen as a market survey conducted ahead of an actual contract award, and as a signal of the likelihood of follow-up projects.
The latest RFI divided target companies by sector. In the combat ship category, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean submitted responses. In the medium-sized refueling ship category, all three shipbuilders, including Samsung Heavy Industries, are known to have participated.
Each company submitted materials to the U.S. side covering its shipbuilding track record, design technology, specialized workforce, production facilities, annual building capacity, and ability to meet delivery deadlines. Defense industry sources believe they likely also explained their U.S. business strategies and plans for technological cooperation.
Korean shipbuilders are already expanding their cooperation base in the United States. After acquiring Hanwha Philly Shipyard, Hanwha Ocean is moving ahead with procedures to secure a license for building warships in the U.S. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is expanding cooperation with Huntington Ingalls, the largest warship builder in the United States. Samsung Heavy Industries has also established a partnership framework with General Dynamics NASSCO.
The latest move is especially significant because it came after Trump directly asked during a summit with President Lee Jae-myung, "Can you quickly build 10 U.S. warships?" Observers say the agenda for cooperation between the two leaders is now being translated into concrete project reviews at the Defense Department and Navy level.
Earlier, the two countries agreed to allocate $150 billion of the $350 billion in U.S.-bound investment to shipbuilding cooperation. Last month, a policy financial institution and the three major Korean shipbuilders also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support that effort. A system has now been established in which policy finance and private shipbuilders work together to back U.S. projects.
A defense industry official said, "The U.S. Department of Defense is conducting a market survey in the form of a research project to review regulatory improvements and reflect them in next year’s budget," adding, "This can be seen as a process of identifying shipyards and production capacity that could be used for actual cooperation in the future."
[email protected] Kim Dong-ho Reporter