South Korean defense giant Hanwha aims to take on module fabrication work for Navy ship and submarine programs as it begins operations at its recently acquired Philly Shipyard, according to the head of the company’s U.S. defense business.
Though the company is not yet on contract to build modules for specific Navy platforms, Mike Smith, president and CEO of Hanwha Defense U.S.A., today said module work represents the first step on a path to building the naval platforms of the future.
“You start off getting your feet wet with doing module build, and when you do that, you're building a track record with the Navy, but you're also building relationships with the likes of Bath, Ingalls, Newport News, Marinette,” he said, referring to major U.S. shipyards currently building high-priority Navy platforms.
“So, that's kind of the first piece, plus the facilities can support that type of throughput and scale. And then, maintenance, repair and overhaul to help relieve some of the other capacity that you have throughout the East Coast,” Smith continued, speaking to reporters at a media forum hosted by Hanwha.
The Columbia-class submarine, Virginia-class submarine, Ford-class aircraft carrier and Arleigh Burke-class destroyer programs are all possibilities for future module fabrication work, Smith added, saying Hanwha is striving for flexibility to meet whatever need the Navy deems greatest rather than targeting a specific program.
However, he indicated Hanwha is less likely to build modules for the Constellation-class frigate program as the Navy considers expanding production to a second yard and noted working on programs that use nuclear propulsion presents a greater challenge.
“We have a couple consultants who are saying the opportunities are a lot closer than we might be ready for. So, I'm equally as concerned about getting the yard ‘facilitized’ to do the work that we expect to do. But I'm not going to target any one specific program, because right now, a lot [of programs] need relief valves,” Smith said.
With delays plaguing most of the Navy’s major shipbuilding programs, the service has encouraged prime contractors to outsource work to smaller yards with spare capacity. In Alabama, for example, Austal USA is working with General Dynamics Electric Boat to construct submarine modules.
In June, Hanwha announced it had reached a $100 million purchase agreement to buy Philly Shipyard from Norwegian investment group Anker ASA -- an acquisition that garnered praise from Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro, who has been a vocal proponent of international companies investing in the U.S. industrial base.
Philly Shipyard sits on the site of the Navy’s former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, which was closed in 1996. The yard has been operating under private ownership since 1997, primarily building commercial cargo ships.
Today, Smith said he envisions the yard eventually producing smaller, unmanned platforms for the Navy’s future fleet as the service continues efforts to field robotic and autonomous maritime systems.
“It could be large unmanned surface vessels. It could be medium unmanned surface vessels. I think the sweet spot is probably the medium range, not just for what we do, but what the Navy needs, given the need for distributed maritime operations,” he said.
“There's also going to be opportunities, perhaps, around specialty ships like icebreakers, training, auxiliaries, tankers, some of the things that you see being built in San Diego, perhaps being built here in the East Coast as well. That's where I see the growth,” Smith continued.
Hanwha’s purchase of Philly Shipyard is only one piece in a concerted effort to expand business with the Pentagon. The company is pushing to increase maintenance work on Navy ships and other U.S. platforms in South Korea -- recently winning a first-of-its-kind contract to do maintenance on a logistics support ship -- and is offering munitions, artillery and manned and unmanned vehicles to the U.S. Army.