Hanwha is currently the only shipbuilder with an operational shipyard in the United States to enter a joint agreement with an autonomous vessels company, with Hanwha Philly Shipyard under consideration to build the vessels. HavocAI has recently closed an $85m funding round, confirmed sales of dozens of vessels to the US Department of War and demonstrated its technology in GPS-denied environments to Ukrainian officials.
“By forging a partnership between an allied defense company with advanced manufacturing scale in Hanwha with a software-first defense technology company in HavocAI, we will deliver state-of-the art ASVs at scale for American service members,” said Hanwha Defense USA chief executive Michael Coulter. “This agreement will not only deliver for the American warfighter but will create much-needed competition for the Department of War acquisition process.”
“The Department of War has sent a clear demand signal to the shipbuilding industry: we need more boats, faster, with more capabilities, for less money,” said HavocAI co-founder and chief executive Paul Lwin. Under the memorandum of understanding, the companies will jointly develop the vessels, covering areas including mass production planning, installation, proposal development and technical work, following an earlier joint demonstration conducted from Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard.
