Guided-missile frigates from South Korea, Japan and Turkey are under review as candidates for U.S. Navy warships to be ordered from overseas shipyards, a U.S. naval affairs publication reported.
Hung Cao, acting U.S. Secretary of the Navy, has directed William Mahan, assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition, to complete assessments of surface combatants, roll-on/roll-off vessels and combat logistics tankers by Nov. 12, USNI News reported on the 1st.
Among the surface combatant designs under consideration are South Korea's Chungnam-class guided-missile frigate, the export version of Japan's Mogami-class FFM guided-missile frigate and Turkey's Istanbul-class guided-missile frigate.
The Chungnam class is the South Korean Navy's newest frigate, designated Ulsan-class Batch III. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries handled the detailed design and built the lead ship, while Hanwha Ocean won orders for the fifth and sixth vessels. SK Oceanplant is building the second through fourth ships.
The frigate program could also apply what is known as the "Finland model." Under that approach, up to two initial vessels are built at a foreign shipyard, after which the foreign company invests in U.S. facilities and shipbuilding infrastructure and shifts production to the United States. The term originated with the U.S. Coast Guard's Arctic Security Cutter program, in which a Finnish shipyard was to build the initial vessels based on a Canadian design before construction moved to a U.S. yard.
The Navy program stems from a memorandum issued by President Donald Trump last month on the 13th. Trump allowed foreign shipbuilders that have invested in the United States to build up to two vessels in these three ship categories in their home countries.
The memorandum specified that the arrangement applies to foreign shipbuilders that simultaneously construct a new shipyard in the United States or acquire ownership or a majority stake in an existing U.S. shipyard. By that standard, Hanwha, which acquired the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, appears to meet the conditions for a South Korean order.
For the U.S. Navy, ordering frigates from overseas would help fill gaps in its surface fleet. "The Navy can't operate with just one size of ship," Brian Metcalf, deputy program manager for the Navy's surface combatant acquisition, said in a video posted on social media in July. "Frigates will fill that gap."
