The 7.8 trillion won Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX) program has entered full swing. After beating HD Hyundai Heavy Industries(329180) to be selected as the preferred negotiating partner, Hanwha Ocean(042660) completed negotiations on technology, terms, and price and signed the main contract.
Hanwha Ocean said on the 31st it signed the main contract with the Defense Acquisition Program Administration for the KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction project. The contract is worth 838 billion won, equal to 6.6% of last year's sales (12.7835 trillion won). The contract runs from today through June 30, 2032.
KDDX is the first domestic Aegis-class warship construction program to secure six 7,000-ton destroyers with domestic technology, with a total of 7.8 trillion won to be invested. From 2032 to 2036, six KDDX ships are slated to be deployed to the Navy. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration plans to place separate orders for the remaining five ships starting at the end of 2028.
Originally, after completing basic design in Dec. 2023, detailed design and lead ship construction were to begin in 2024, but competition between Hanwha Ocean and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries made operator selection difficult, delaying the entire program by about two years. In the end, on the 1st, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration selected Hanwha Ocean as the preferred negotiating partner after competitive bidding.
Kim Ho-jung, senior executive vice president in charge of domestic sales at Hanwha Ocean's special ship division, said, "Hanwha Ocean feels a heavy sense of responsibility as the contractor for KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction," and added, "We will do our utmost to ensure that KDDX, which will lead the Republic of Korea Navy in the 2030s and become a representative model of K-defense in the maritime sector, can establish itself as the best destroyer that can drive the overseas defense market."