Hanwha takes the lead in MASGA, wins first U.S. Navy shipbuilding contract

[Financial News] Hanwha Group is establishing itself as a leading company in the MASGA (U.S.-South Korea shipbuilding cooperation) project. It has won its first contract to build a U.S. Navy vessel. The U.S. government’s confidence in the company is such that Hanwha Philly Shipyard is beginning to take on naval vessel construction.
According to Hanwha Group on the 1st, Hanwha Defense USA, Inc. signed a contract with the U.S. Navy’s vessel construction manager (VCM), TOTE Services, on the 29th (local time) to build one medium landing ship (LSM). The contract is worth $269 million, or 357.5 billion won. The U.S. Navy plans to acquire a total of 35 LSMs. Although this contract is for just one vessel, it is expected to pave the way for follow-on orders.
LSMs are used to transport and deploy Marine Corps personnel, equipment and supplies in coastal areas. Designed for expeditionary operations that move troops and materiel over long distances, they are substantial in size: 100 meters long, 16 meters wide, with a lightship displacement of 2,687 tons and a range of 7,400 kilometers. Their mission is to support distributed operations along contested coasts, including in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. Navy signed a $2.2 billion contract with TOTE Services, tasking it as VCM with advancing the concurrent construction of multiple LSMs at several shipyards. The aim is to accelerate the deployment of LSMs. The design is based on the LST-100 by Damen, a Dutch specialist shipbuilder focused on special-purpose vessels.
Hanwha Philly Shipyard was selected as one of the yards for concurrent construction in part because of programs already underway. A key example is the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) program ordered by the U.S. Maritime Administration. The shipyard has built and delivered four vessels under TOTE Services’ VCM model, and plans to deliver the fifth and final vessel next year. In July, it won a contract for a maritime missile range instrumentation vessel (MRIV) linked to the Golden Dome missile defense system. Since March, Hanwha Philly Shipyard and Hanwha Defense USA, Inc. have also been participating with Vard Marine US, a U.S. naval vessel design firm, in the conceptual design of the U.S. Navy’s Next-Generation Logistics Ship (NGLS).
Alongside the LSM, the U.S. Navy shipbuilding program with near-term potential for additional orders is the NGLS. Since Hanwha took part in its conceptual design, the company is expected to be well positioned if plans to bring the vessel into service move forward in earnest. Through its design work, Hanwha is directly assessing productivity, construction methods and costs. The NGLS is also expected to be substantial in scale. According to Congressional Research Service data, a light replenishment ship in the same family costs $453 million per vessel to procure, or about 630 billion won.
Michael Coulter, head of Hanwha Defense USA, Inc., stressed, “Since acquiring Philly Shipyard in 2024, Hanwha has made major investments in personnel and technology to establish a shipbuilding base for federal government customers, including the U.S. Navy.”
U.S. Senator Dave McCormick, a member of the ruling Republican Party and a representative of Pennsylvania, where Hanwha Philly Shipyard is located, also expressed optimism. Senator McCormick said, “Hanwha’s continued commitment to investing in Philadelphia clearly shows what can be achieved when investing in American workers and industry.”
In October, Senator McCormick visited Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje site in person and viewed the Pyeongtaek, a 3,600-ton displacement frigate in the latest Ulsan-class Batch-III (Chungnam-class). This appears to be a positive sign, as the U.S. military is considering purchasing either a Chungnam-class frigate or a Japanese Mogami-class frigate. In September, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for East Asia George Lemoore also toured the Pyeongtaek’s construction site at the same location.
[email protected] Kim Yun-ho Reporter