DAPA Approves at Subcommittee Meeting...
Final Decision on Three Options to Be Made by Defense Project Promotion Committee
The final decision on the business approach for the next-generation Korean destroyer (KDDX) program will be made on December 18. It is widely believed that a joint design approach involving HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean is likely to be adopted.
On December 4, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) announced that the Defense Project Planning and Management Subcommittee had reviewed and approved the "KDDX Detailed Design and Lead Ship Construction Basic Plan."
However, the subcommittee did not decide on the KDDX business approach, which has been the main point of interest. Instead, DAPA added a joint design option to the previously discussed methods of private contract and competitive bidding. DAPA plans to hold a Defense Project Promotion Committee meeting on December 18 to select one of these three options and finalize the business plan.
If a private contract is chosen, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, which secured the basic design contract, will be responsible for the detailed design and construction of the first ship. In the case of competitive bidding, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries would be at a disadvantage due to security demerits, making it more likely for Hanwha Ocean to win the project.
The newly added joint design approach is reportedly a win-win solution proposed by DAPA to both HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean. If the joint design is adopted, both companies will collaborate on the detailed design, and then, when DAPA places simultaneous orders for two lead ships, each company will build one ship.
The KDDX project aims to deploy six 6,000-ton mini Aegis destroyers by 2030 at a cost of 7.8 trillion won. The project proceeds in the following order: conceptual design, basic design, detailed design and lead ship construction, and follow-on ship construction. Hanwha Ocean won the conceptual design contract, while HD Hyundai Heavy Industries secured the basic design contract.
The project, currently at the detailed design and lead ship stage, has been stalled for about two years since the completion of the basic design in December 2023. This delay was caused by legal disputes and intense competition between HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean over the contractor selection.
As the project delay has become prolonged, concerns about force integration have grown, leading to analysis that DAPA proposed the joint design as a solution for mutual cooperation.
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