Hanwha Global Defense and HavocAI are collaborating, bringing together shipbuilding and autonomy expertise they believe will shake up the defense market.
Why it matters: The previously undisclosed partnership could earn Hanwha a stronger stateside foothold and propel the production of Havoc’s drone boats.
Driving the news: Executives from both companies are this week in South Korea, where they are getting familiar with each other’s shipyard operations and autonomous surface vessel capabilities.
- “We want to push the bounds of what’s possible, and do it very quickly,” Michael Coulter, Hanwha Global Defense’s chief executive, told Axios.
- “We’re on a global defense journey, and we’re committed to growing an American workforce and leveraging all that technology and process from our parent,” he said.
- U.S. shipbuilding capacity “is just insufficient,” he added, despite it being “a national security imperative.”
Zoom in: On the schedule was a demonstration of Havoc’s vessels, some of which were stationed off Hawaii and were expected to be tasked from the other side of the Pacific.
- The showcase was set to include at least four 14-foot Rampages and one 42-foot Kaikoa.
What they’re saying: “I think a lot of people … are surprised by how mature our systems are,” Havoc CEO Paul Lwin told Axios.
- Hanwha, he added, makes “us understand and de-risks being able to build thousands of autonomous vessels, and we are the startup that can move fast.”
- The company was founded last year. It announced $85 million in new funding weeks ago.
Zoom out: U.S. officials — including President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — are spending the final days of October shuttling across the Indo-Pacific.
Colin Demarest
Axios
