The Defense Acquisition Program Administration held the 173rd Defense Project Promotion Committee at the Ministry of National Defense on the 23rd and decided to choose, through competitive bidding, the company for detailed design and lead ship construction of the Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX). It plans to issue a bid notice around the end of next month and select the final contractor in July.
The military authorities approved a draft of the "KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction basic plan," which includes deciding the contractor for the KDDX lead ship construction through competitive bidding at the committee on the day. KDDX is the first domestic destroyer program in which both the hull and the EGIS system are built with domestic technology. A total of 7.0439 trillion won will be invested to build six 6,000-ton mini Aegis destroyers.
Warship construction projects typically proceed in the order of concept design, basic design, detailed design and lead ship construction, and follow-on ship construction. The plan had been to complete the basic design in Dec. 2023 and begin detailed design and lead ship construction in 2024, but competition between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean overheated, and the Defense Acquisition Program Administration failed to decide on a contractor selection method, delaying the project.
Then in Dec. last year, the committee decided to use competitive bidding to select the contractor for KDDX detailed design and lead ship construction, and the basic plan reflecting this was approved on the day.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration aims to issue a bid notice in late March to early April, evaluate proposals around May and June, and sign the final contract in July. It plans to deliver the lead ship to the Navy at the end of 2032.
An official at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, "We believe we will be able to place orders for follow-on ships starting at the end of 2028 after completing the detailed design," and added, "Although the project has been significantly delayed, we are planning it with the goal of delivering all follow-on ships by 2036 as initially planned."
Meanwhile, the committee also approved the ballistic course-correcting fuze project and the F-35A upgrade project on the day. The ballistic course-correcting fuze project centers on acquiring course-correcting fuzes with guidance functions to improve the accuracy of 155 mm extended-range rounds. Through the F-35A upgrade project, the military plans to improve the performance of electronic warfare equipment and enhance tactical data processing and precision guided weapon operation capabilities.