The company to build the lead ship of the Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX), which has been adrift for nearly two years, is expected to be decided on the 18th.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) on the 4th reviewed and approved the "KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction basic plan" at the Defense Project Planning and Management Subcommittee. The subcommittee on this day narrowed the KDDX program's promotion methods to single-source contracting, competitive bidding, and joint design. The subcommittee is a lower-level procedure of the Defense Project Promotion Committee. DAPA plans to convene the committee on the 18th and choose one of the three methods.
The KDDX program will invest 7.8 trillion won by 2030 to build six EGIS destroyers that include the hull, combat system, and radar using domestic technology. As is customary, warship construction proceeds in the order of conceptual design, basic design, detailed design and lead ship construction, and follow-on ships construction. Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries handled the conceptual design and basic design, respectively.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries maintains that, within the overall program, the detailed design and lead ship (Ship No. 1) construction should proceed as a single-source contract, as is customary. Hanwha Ocean, by contrast, argues that it should be put out for competitive bidding. Under the original plan, after completing the basic design in Dec. 2023, work on the detailed design and lead ship construction was to begin last year. However, amid legal disputes and overheated competition between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean, DAPA failed to reach a conclusion, delaying the program for nearly two years.