The Korea Destroyer neXt generation (KDDX) program, which had been delayed for about two years due to conflicts between companies, has been postponed once again.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said via a text notice on the 16th that it "decided not to submit the KDDX project as an agenda item to the 130th Subcommittee on Project Planning and Management (subcommittee) on the 18th to allow additional review of a win-win cooperation plan during the KDDX program."
Until this morning, DAPA had planned to hold the subcommittee meeting on the 18th and the Defense Project Promotion Committee on the 30th in sequence, submit the agenda for the KDDX detailed design and lead ship (first ship) construction, and decide the project method. It abruptly changed course only in the afternoon, reportedly because the Democratic Party of Korea requested that the ruling and opposition parties discuss the KDDX program as an agenda item to explore a win-win cooperation plan between companies.
The KDDX program centers on investing 7.8 trillion won to build six 6,000-ton-class domestically built EGIS destroyers by 2030. Hanwha Ocean handled the concept design, and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries completed the basic design in December 2023. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries maintains that, in keeping with the practice of awarding the detailed design to the company that performed the basic design, the contract should be negotiated, while Hanwha Ocean has argued for a competitive bid, citing HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' past conviction for stealing military secrets.
With the two companies failing to narrow their differences, the KDDX program has been delayed for more than 1 year and 9 months. DAPA had initially planned to launch the KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction last year. As the gap remained, DAPA has, since early this year, sought to proceed with the detailed design through a negotiated contract with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries while crafting a win-win cooperation plan allowing Hanwha Ocean to participate in parts of the design process, and has been persuading the two corporations. Working-level staff from each side also met multiple times at DAPA for meetings.
However, Hanwha Ocean said it is difficult to accept DAPA's win-win cooperation plan, and some civilian members of the DAPA subcommittee reportedly pointed out that the plan is insufficient.
The schedule for ruling-opposition consultations on the KDDX program has not yet been set.