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HD Hyundai files injunction over next-gen destroyer design disclosure

Published: 26 Mar. 2026, 09:44

A ship under construction is seen at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' shipyard in Dong District, Ulsan, on July 31, 2025. [YONHAP]

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has filed for a court injunction to prevent the disclosure of its basic design for the Korean Next-Generation Destroyer to its competitor Hanwha Ocean, sources said Wednesday.

According to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), HD Hyundai made the legal request with the Seoul Central District Court the previous day, asking that its basic design proposal, which DAPA had been scheduled to send to both companies on Thursday, not be distributed.

The two rival companies have been shortlisted for the 7.8 trillion-won ($5.2 billion) project to build six warships with homegrown technologies. The envisioned 6,000-ton-class Aegis destroyers are expected to become the Navy's future strategic asset, which could match its most powerful Aegis destroyer, the 7,100-ton King Sejong the Great.

HD Hyundai Heavy and Hanwha Ocean, which worked on the basic design and the conceptual design, respectively, are competing against each other to become the final contractor in the bidding process.

The winner had initially been scheduled to be selected in July, but the latest legal complication is expected to delay the project.

HD Hyundai Heavy described the injunction as "unavoidable," as it developed the basic design assuming that it would win the project, including the actual construction of the lead ship. Disclosure of the design, it claimed, would reveal confidential information and could potentially compromise its bidding strategy.

Yonhap