Navy Looks Beyond Domestic Yards
The U.S. Navy is preparing to study whether foreign partners could help build American warships, a notable shift in the service’s search for ways to relieve pressure on an overstretched domestic shipbuilding base.
Navy Secretary John Phelan told reporters at a Sea-Air-Space 2026 media roundtable in Washington that the service is facing a labor capacity problem at home and is examining a broad set of options. His comments do not amount to a decision to build ships overseas, but they signal that the Navy is willing to consider ideas that would have been politically and industrially difficult in earlier procurement debates.
“Everything’s on the table,” Phelan said, according to the source report. He framed the issue as one that requires the Navy to understand the implications before deciding whether any foreign production role would make sense.
Allied Maintenance Work Is the Starting Point
Phelan pointed to maintenance, repair and operations work with Japan and South Korea as examples of how allies have already helped ease pressure on U.S. naval sustainment. South Korean shipbuilders HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hanwha Ocean have already won three U.S. Navy maintenance contracts in 2026, according to the report, with much of that work tied to ships operating in the 7th Fleet area.
The operational logic is clear: ships based in or near the western Pacific can benefit from capable regional yards, especially when U.S. repair capacity is constrained. Extending that model from maintenance into construction would be a much larger policy and industrial step. It would raise questions about security controls, workforce strategy, congressional support, technology transfer, domestic supplier networks and the long-term role of U.S. public and private yards.
The Navy has already been studying shipbuilding practices abroad. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle met South Korean shipbuilders in November 2025 during his first international trip as CNO, with a focus on practices that could help reinvigorate the U.S. maritime industrial base.
