Kristen Smith 
Hanwha Ocean and Leidos have signed a memorandum of understanding to work on naval ship design and production efforts supporting U.S. Navy and allied requirements.
Hanwha said Monday the collaboration, finalized at Sea-Air-Space 2026, focuses on combining its shipbuilding capacity with Leidos’ naval design and engineering capabilities to pursue opportunities in the U.S. and global defense markets.
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What Will the Hanwha-Leidos Collaboration Focus On?
The collaboration will center on adapting Hanwha ship designs to meet U.S. Navy standards and on co-developing next-generation warship concepts.
Additional efforts include building a distributed supply chain across U.S. and South Korean industrial bases and advancing ship designs optimized for production and sustainment.
What Capabilities Do Hanwha Ocean and Leidos Bring?
Hanwha Ocean brings shipbuilding scale and experience in constructing submarines and surface combatants, supported by its shipyard operations in South Korea and its U.S. presence through Philly Shipyard.
Leidos contributes naval design expertise through its Gibbs & Cox business, which has designed a majority of U.S. Navy surface combatants since World War II. The company also brings maritime technologies, including autonomous vessel platforms and software used in U.S. Navy programs.
How Does This Align With Leidos’ Maritime Strategy?
The partnership builds on Leidos’ broader push into maritime and autonomous systems.
The company recently partnered with Havoc to integrate collaborative autonomy software into its unmanned vessel architecture to support multi-platform operations.
Leidos has also indicated plans to grow its presence in the maritime autonomy market through a mix of in-house development, acquisitions and partnerships supporting U.S. Navy modernization efforts.
