Warning signs are emerging for HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' bid to win Saudi Arabia's frigate program that was once seen as favorable. The outlook is shifting as European shipbuilders, including those in France, Spain and Italy, jump into the race with government backing.
According to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries on the 23rd, the Royal Saudi Navy said in 2020 that it would acquire five 6,000-ton (t) class frigates. The project is estimated at more than 3 trillion won.
Analysts say the goal goes beyond a simple weapons purchase to strengthening shipbuilding capabilities by internalizing local construction capacity and a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) system. However, formal procedures for the weapons acquisition program, such as sending a request for information (RFI), have not yet begun.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries expects the Saudi government to send RFIs to defense companies in various countries around the end of this year.
In 2017, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries formed a joint venture with Saudi state oil company Aramco, Lamprell and Bahri to establish the IMI shipyard. Built in the King Salman Industrial Complex in eastern Saudi Arabia, the yard can build up to 40 ships a year and is set to go fully online at the end of this year. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries transferred technologies such as tanker construction and also receives royalties.
Having entered the Saudi shipbuilding market early, many in the industry had assessed that HD Hyundai Heavy Industries held an advantage in the country's new frigate procurement. The company is also said to have promoted local construction cases with Peru's SIMA shipyard and its MRO track record at the World Defense Show (WDS 2026) in Saudi Arabia recently.
But the mood is changing as European shipbuilders such as France's Naval Group, Spain's Navantia and Italy's Fincantieri join the bidding for the Saudi frigate program. In particular, Naval Group delivered Riyadh-class (4,700–4,800 t) frigates to Saudi Arabia in the early 2000s.
The French government is also moving. It has increased contacts with the Saudi government and offered supporting fire with a package including expanded offset trade and military cooperation. A defense industry official said, "This project is effectively a head-to-head between Korea and France," adding, "Diplomatic clout and government support could decide the race."
In addition, Spain's Navantia is reportedly putting major effort into the bid, leveraging a joint venture it established with the Saudi government in 2018 aimed at a 2,200-ton frigate program.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is betting on two pillars: "technology" and "localization." The model it plans to propose is the export-oriented large frigate HDF-6000. The HDF-6000 is a blue-water combat ship equipped with high-performance sensors and armaments, including a 48-cell vertical launch system, eight anti-ship missiles, a close-in weapon system (CIWS) and a multifunction phased-array radar (MFR).
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is said to have increased performance and size compared with domestic frigates to reflect Saudi Arabia's expanding operational radius. Saudi Arabia aims to extend its reach beyond the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, across the Arabian Sea to the Indo-Pacific.
It also plans to use the IMI shipyard. While France has a record of exporting naval vessels to Saudi Arabia, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries intends to emphasize that it has not only design, construction and MRO capabilities but also a supply chain foundation. The company is reviewing a plan to develop and build the lead ship (No. 1) in Korea, construct follow-on ships No. 2–4 at the IMI shipyard, and dispatch Saudi personnel.
A shipbuilding industry official said, "It is clearly an advantage that Korea has a localization base," but added, "European countries are also mounting an all-out effort at the national level, so it is difficult to be optimistic about HD Hyundai Heavy Industries winning the order."