Navy Secretary John Phelan Explores Foreign Warship Manufacturing

Navy Secretary John Phelan announced that the United States Navy will study the possibility of utilizing foreign partners to manufacture warships. Speaking at the Sea-Air-Space 2026 event in Washington, Phelan stated that "everything’s on the table" to remediate domestic labor capacity problems and shipbuilding shortages.

Phelan pointed to existing maintenance, repair, and operations collaborations with Japan and South Korea as potential models for this broader cooperation. In 2026, South Korean firms HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean have already secured three MRO contracts. To further increase production speed, Phelan proposed new contracting terms that would provide bonuses to shipbuilders who beat schedules, provided those bonuses are shared with the workers.

These initiatives support the Golden Fleet program established by President Donald Trump. The proposed fiscal 2027 budget requests $65.8 billion for the construction of 18 battle force and 16 auxiliary ships as part of a broader goal to expand the fleet to 381 ships.