An Austral shipyard in Adelaide, South Australia, in January 2014. Korean shipbuilding firm Hanwha is proposing to buy Austral USA, Austral’s Alabama-based US subsidiary, for around $1–1.2 billion. (Shutterstock/myphotobank.com.au)

South Korea’s Hanwha Naval Giant Seeks to Buy Struggling US Shipbuilder

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Hanwha had previously sought to buy Austal USA in 2024, but the purchase was halted amid regulatory concerns. Two years later, it is trying again.

The United States Navy has a major problem: it urgently needs more warships, but nearly every major sea-based program is running late and over budget. At present, the US shipbuilding industry simply lacks the capacity to engage in the necessary course correction, and the Department of the Navy has taken the drastic move of considering how foreign shipyards might be one solution.

On Tuesday, the issue took another noteworthy turn as South Korea’s Hanwha Group—one of the country’s “Big Three” shipbuilders, along with Samsung Heavy Industries and Hyundai Heavy Industries—made a non-binding offer to buy Austral USA, a builder of the US Navy’s ships and submarine components.

News of the proposed acquisition was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Hanwha Defense USA, the US-based subsidiary of the........

© The National Interest