The USNS Wally Schirra departs Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard after completing approximately six months of maintenance work. Photo courtesy of Hanwha Ocean
July 14 (Asia Today) -- The U.S. Navy has asked major South Korean shipbuilders for information about their ability to design and build destroyers and fleet support vessels, potentially opening the world's largest naval market to South Korea's shipbuilding industry.
The requests for information mark a significant step in Washington's effort to address shipyard capacity constraints and strengthen its maritime industrial base with help from key allies.
The development comes as South Korea and the United States expand cooperation under MASGA, short for Make American Shipbuilding Great Again, a bilateral initiative intended to revitalize U.S. shipbuilding through investment, workforce development, technology cooperation and naval vessel maintenance.
The prospective U.S. market could dwarf South Korea's recent efforts to win Canada's next-generation submarine program, estimated by the industry at about 60 trillion won, or approximately $43 billion. Long-term U.S. naval construction and modernization spending could reach about 1.6 quadrillion won, or roughly $1.2 trillion, according to industry estimates cited in South Korea.
