Lawmaker proposes building 80% of Navy vessels in South Korea

Distributed construction model could bypass U.S. shipyard limits

“To say we are going to build everything in the United States is wrong,” Bera said at the forum, urging Washington to make greater use of allied manufacturing capacity. He said relying exclusively on domestic shipyards was unrealistic because the United States lacks sufficient workers and production capacity.

Bera suggested that South Korean shipyards could produce hulls and other components accounting for 75% to 80% of a vessel, while highly sensitive systems could be manufactured and installed in the United States. He also proposed a distributed construction model under which components would be produced at different locations before being brought to the United States for final assembly.

“If we do not have the workers or construction capacity in the United States, we have to build where ships can be built,” he said.

Bera said combining the capabilities of the United States and its allies would strengthen deterrence and help prevent a military conflict with China.

The proposal arrives as the House and Senate Armed Services committees have approved competing versions of the fiscal 2027 defense authorization bill that would determine how extensively South Korean shipbuilders can participate in U.S. naval construction programs, as MSI previously reported. The House version includes an amendment from Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, whose district includes the Bath Iron Works shipyard, that would restrict foreign construction of combat ships. The Senate version would allow the U.S. Navy to procure up to two bulk fuel vessels and up to two strategic sealift vessels from foreign shipyards.

Shin Jong-gye, a professor emeritus of naval architecture and ocean engineering at Seoul National University, said China’s overall shipbuilding capacity by gross tonnage was more than 230 times that of the United States. He said China had more than 50 dry docks large enough to accommodate aircraft carriers. Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia is the only U.S. shipyard capable of designing and building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

Shin said the United States must expand both its physical shipyard capacity and its ability to build vessels quickly and efficiently. He said South Korea, Japan and China benefit from building commercial and naval vessels within the same industrial ecosystems, allowing them to share technology, workers and supply chains. The United States lacks a comparable commercial shipbuilding base and therefore cannot obtain the same economies of scale, he said.

South Korea, Japan and China together account for more than 95% of global commercial shipbuilding, Shin said. He estimated that rebuilding the U.S. shipbuilding sector independently could take 20 to 30 years, while cooperation with South Korea could significantly shorten the process.

Shin proposed initially building complete ships in South Korea while developing supply chains in the United States, with American production expanded gradually. He said protecting South Korean intellectual property, providing appropriate compensation and resolving visa restrictions for Korean specialists would be essential.

Bera said President Donald Trump had discussed nuclear-powered submarine construction with South Korea. Such cooperation would require the two countries to address technology sharing and export control restrictions, he said. Bera cited the security partnership among the United States, Britain and Australia — commonly known as AUKUS — as a possible model for resolving issues related to joint naval construction.

Bera also called on the United States to facilitate the entry of South Korean engineers and technicians needed to support investments by Korean shipbuilding companies. He described the detention of more than 300 South Korean workers in Georgia in September as an “embarrassing fiasco” and said the visa problem must be resolved.

Michael Coulter, president and chief executive officer of Hanwha Defense USA, said protectionism was one of the largest obstacles to industrial cooperation. He said South Korea and the United States often viewed each other primarily as export markets rather than partners sharing a common industrial base.

Coulter said the U.S. Navy had issued a request for information after consulting the South Korean government and Korean shipbuilders.