Hanwha Wins First U.S. Navy Shipbuilding Deal: $269 Million Landing Ship

Photo: MastersHall, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (file photo, Feb. 2024). The Philadelphia shipyard, now Hanwha Philly Shipyard, with a National Security Multi-Mission Vessel under construction.

Hanwha Defense USA, the American subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, has been picked to build a Medium Landing Ship for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in a deal valued at $269 million, the company announced on Thursday, Oct. 29. The Hanwha Navy landing ship contract covers one vessel at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia, with options for three more, and is the company’s first contract to build ships for the U.S. Navy.

The selection was made by TOTE Services, a Jacksonville, Fla., maritime firm that runs the Landing Ship Medium (LSM) program as the Navy’s vessel construction manager. TOTE confirmed the award in its own release on Friday, Oct. 30, and said construction at the Philadelphia yard is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2027.

What the Hanwha Navy landing ship contract covers

According to TOTE Services, the award follows a competitive request for proposals the company sent to qualified U.S. shipyards in July 2026. TOTE said Hanwha Defense USA (HDUSA) was the first builder chosen through that process “based on its competitive pricing and acceptance of TOTE Services’ subcontract terms and conditions.”

The deal’s size is modest next to the wider program. TOTE holds a $2.2 billion vessel construction manager contract supporting a planned 35-ship LSM fleet for the Navy and Marine Corps, and its base contract allows for up to eight new vessels. The first ship of the program is now expected to be delivered in 2030. Breaking Defense noted that the Navy said in July that the first LSM was due in 2029, so TOTE’s announcement implies a one-year slip in the program’s first delivery date.

The ships are meant to carry Marines and their equipment between islands in the Indo-Pacific. The Navy and Marine Corps said in December 2025 that the LSM design was derived from one by Dutch shipbuilder Damen, Breaking Defense reported.

A new way for the Navy to buy ships

The award is the first made under a new acquisition setup for Navy shipbuilding. Under the vessel construction manager model, TOTE acts as prime contractor and carries direct contractual oversight of construction and delivery, rather than the Navy contracting with each shipyard itself. The approach is common in commercial shipbuilding but new for the Navy, which named TOTE its first such manager in July, according to Breaking Defense.

“This award shows the speed at which the VCM model can move from RFP to contract,” TOTE Services President Jeff Dixon said. He added that the competition produced “build positions that allow construction to start in the fourth quarter of 2027.”

TOTE has run this model before. It manages the five-ship National Security Multi-Mission Vessel program for the U.S. Maritime Administration, a fleet of training ships for state maritime academies built at the same Philadelphia yard. Four of those ships have been delivered, and the fifth, Golden State, is expected in 2027, TOTE said.

Other shipyards still in line

Hanwha is not the only builder expected to work on the fleet. Before TOTE was brought in, the Navy had chosen Bollinger Shipyards to build the first LSM and had given Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin a contract for long-lead materials for four more ships. TOTE said it remains in “productive contract discussions” with both yards and expects them “to play a meaningful role in building the LSM fleet.”

Fincantieri Marine Group CEO George Moutafis said in a statement reported by Breaking Defense that the company is “committed to the LSM program” and is focused on “securing the right agreement,” including “a realistic schedule.”

Korean money in an American shipyard

Hanwha bought the Philadelphia yard in December 2024. HDUSA said this week that it is in the process of acquiring a controlling stake in Hanwha Philly Shipyard. Breaking Defense, citing a Hanwha release, reported that Hanwha Systems currently owns 60% of the yard and Hanwha Ocean the remaining 40%, and that the size of HDUSA’s planned stake was not disclosed.

“Since acquiring Philly Shipyard in 2024, Hanwha has made significant investments in its workforce and technology to pave the way to build ships for the U.S. Navy and other federal customers,” HDUSA President and CEO Michael Coulter said in the company’s announcement. Tim Glinatsis, HDUSA’s senior vice president of program management, said company staff have been in Philadelphia “since early this year” preparing the yard for naval work.

The deal arrives during a busy week for South Korea’s defense and industrial ties with Washington. Our report on the U.S.-Japan-South Korea foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta covers the diplomatic side, and South Korean factories posted their biggest monthly output gain since 2011 in September. Seoul has also been widening defense links in Europe, including its new partnership with Germany.

By the numbers: Hanwha’s share of the LSM program

The figures below come from TOTE Services’ Oct. 30 release and are company-reported. If Hanwha’s three options are exercised, its total would reach four ships. That equals half of the eight-ship cap under TOTE’s base contract and about 11% of the planned 35-ship fleet (TBR calculations). The single ship ordered so far is under 3% of the planned fleet.

The timeline also shows how fast the new model is moving on paper. About three months passed between TOTE’s July request for proposals and the Oct. 29 award. Construction is set to begin roughly a year after the award, in the fourth quarter of 2027, while the program’s first delivery target of 2030 is one year later than the 2029 date the Navy gave in July.

What comes next

TOTE said it plans more shipyard selections for the program. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who represents Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District, said in TOTE’s release that the choice reflects “the skilled union workforce, transformational investments, and experienced partnerships that make Philadelphia one of the nation’s premier shipbuilding centers.” Hanwha said it looks forward to working with TOTE “to ensure an on-time and on-budget delivery.”

Sources

• TOTE Services: TOTE Services Identifies Hanwha Defense USA for Medium Landing Ship Construction (Oct. 30, 2026)
• Hanwha Defense USA: HDUSA Selected by TOTE Services for LSM Construction Contract in Philadelphia (Oct. 29, 2026)
• Breaking Defense: Navy flexes new acquisition muscles with TOTE’s $269M LSM award to Hanwha
• Yonhap News Agency: Hanwha Defense USA wins US$269 mln U.S. Navy shipbuilding contract

Additional sources

• Shipping records: ImportGenius could not be reached when this article was prepared, so no customs or bill-of-lading records were checked. Nothing in this report relies on shipping data.