Hanwha and HavocAI Join Forces to Build 200-Foot Autonomous Warships for U.S. Military

Philadelphia / Washington : South Korean defense major Hanwha Defense USA, together with Hanwha Systems Co and U.S.-based autonomy specialist HavocAI, has announced a landmark partnership to jointly develop 200-foot Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs) for the U.S. military, marking one of the most significant steps yet toward large-scale autonomous naval platforms.

The agreement, unveiled on January 8, brings together one of the world’s largest shipbuilding and defense groups with what the partners describe as the most advanced collaborative autonomy technology currently available. The initiative is aimed squarely at accelerating U.S. naval shipbuilding timelines while lowering costs and expanding operational capability in contested maritime environments.

A First-of-Its-Kind U.S. Shipbuilding Partnership

Hanwha is currently the only global shipbuilder operating an active shipyard in the United States to formally enter into a joint development agreement with an autonomous vessels company. Under the newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Hanwha Philly Shipyard is under consideration as the primary production site for the 200-foot ASVs, positioning Philadelphia as a future hub for unmanned naval ship construction.

The vessels will be designed with mass-production scalability in mind, reflecting growing pressure on the U.S. defense industrial base to deliver platforms faster and in higher numbers than traditional shipbuilding programs allow.

Built for the Pentagon’s Next Naval Doctrine

Production of the autonomous vessels is expected to align with the U.S. Government’s Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) solicitation, a program intended to field adaptable, lower-cost surface combatants capable of operating with or without crews. The ASVs are expected to support missions including force protection, maritime surveillance, distributed strike operations, and logistics support in high-risk theaters.

According to the companies, the joint effort will cover design integration, autonomy installation, production planning, proposal development, and technical certification, creating a full end-to-end pathway from concept to operational deployment.

HavocAI’s Rapid Rise in Autonomous Warfare

The partnership comes on the heels of rapid growth at HavocAI. The company recently closed an $85 million funding round and has publicly confirmed the sale of dozens of autonomous vessels to the U.S. Department of War, underscoring strong institutional demand for its technology.

HavocAI has also demonstrated its collaborative autonomy systems in GPS-denied and electronically contested environments, including high-profile demonstrations observed by Ukrainian officials, highlighting the platform’s relevance to modern naval warfare shaped by electronic warfare and precision strikes.

Industry Leaders Signal Shift in Defense Procurement

Michael Coulter, CEO of Hanwha Defense USA, said the collaboration reflects a fundamental shift in how military platforms must now be developed and delivered.

“By forging a partnership between an allied defense company with advanced manufacturing scale in Hanwha and a software-first defense technology company in HavocAI, we will deliver state-of-the-art ASVs at scale for American service members,” Coulter said. He added that the agreement is designed to introduce greater competition into the Department of War’s acquisition process, long dominated by traditional shipbuilding timelines and cost structures.

Paul Lwin, Co-founder and CEO of HavocAI, said the demand signal from Washington is unmistakable. “The Department of War has made it clear: we need more boats, faster, with more capability, and for less money,” Lwin said. “Pairing cutting-edge autonomy with established global shipbuilding infrastructure is exactly how that goal becomes achievable.”

From Korea to the Pacific and Beyond

The January announcement formalizes a relationship first revealed in October 2025, when Hanwha and HavocAI conducted a joint technology demonstration. During that event, HavocAI executed an autonomous force-protection mission off the coast of Hawaii, while command and control were maintained beyond line of sight from Hanwha Ocean Geoje Shipyard in South Korea.

That demonstration underscored the feasibility of globally distributed autonomous operations, a concept increasingly central to U.S. and allied naval strategies in the Indo-Pacific and beyond.

Strategic Implications

With the U.S. Navy and Department of War accelerating investment in unmanned and optionally crewed platforms, the Hanwha-HavocAI partnership represents a convergence of industrial scale, allied cooperation, and battlefield-tested autonomy. If realized at scale, the 200-foot ASV program could redefine how surface combatants are built, deployed, and sustained—potentially reshaping the future of naval warfare well into the 2030s.