It comes after Trump signed a memorandum calling for foreign shipbuilding capacity and investment as US industry struggles to meet demand

Washington is considering using Japanese, South Korean or Turkish frigate designs to expand the country’s naval fleet as the American shipbuilding industry struggles to meet demand, according to US media reports.

The move comes after President Donald Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum on August 13 calling for the use of foreign shipbuilding capacity and investment.

However, the plan is likely to face strong opposition in Congress.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

Potential contenders for the US Navy’s new guided-missile frigate include Japan’s Mogami-class, South Korea’s Chungnam-class and Turkey’s Istanbul-class, USNI News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

“The president has directed the navy to aggressively increase domestic shipbuilding capacity, including leveraging the proven shipbuilding skills and industrial expertise of our allies,” US Navy spokesman Ron Flanders was quoted as saying.

According to the report, the cooperation could follow the “Finland model”. That would see foreign shipbuilders constructing the first two hulls and investing in US facilities, workforce, technologies and supply chains before production is transferred to American shipyards.

If it goes ahead, it would be the first time the US has bought a major surface combatant from a foreign partner since World War II.

US law requires major navy and coastguard vessels to be built in domestic shipyards, unless the president grants a national security waiver. The navy can still acquire foreign-built auxiliary or sealift ships.

In the August White House memorandum, Trump invoked the waiver, determining that it was “in the national security interest” to allow foreign suppliers to participate under the “Finland model”.

The model was first used in the coastguard’s medium icebreaker programme, under which Finnish shipyards built initial hulls based on Canadian designs and then transitioned construction to a US shipyard.

The memorandum said a lack of capacity and competition in domestic shipbuilding had resulted in large backlogs for navy orders. It also said an “atrophied shipbuilding industrial base, coupled with diminished adjacent supplier bases, has expanded delays and increased costs”.

The Trump administration has been pushing to expand overseas shipbuilding, with several senior officials openly discussing the possibility of outsourcing warship construction abroad. The Pentagon included US$1.85 billion in its 2027 budget for a feasibility study examining the potential outsourcing of warship design and construction to South Korea and Japan.

The Istanbul-class guided-missile frigate is also being considered after a meeting between Trump and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan during the Nato summit in Ankara in July, according to USNI News.

But lawmakers representing states with major shipbuilding industries are seeking to curb the White House’s efforts to buy foreign-built warships.

The 5,500-tonne Mogami-class frigate by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has a stealth hull with a high degree of automation. Australia has ordered 11 of this class for A$20 billion (US$14.3 billion) – the first three to be built in Japan and the remaining eight in Australia.

The 4,300-tonne Chungnam-class is South Korea’s latest frigate built by Hyundai Heavy Industries, SK Oceanplant and Hanwha Ocean. In the past few years, many US Navy officials have visited these shipyards.

Hanwha Ocean bought the Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia in December 2024 and pledged a US$5 billion investment to upgrade and revive the facility.

The US Navy has previously looked to foreign design and investment, most recently in the Constellation-class frigate programme.

The frigate was originally based on an Italian design, with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri investing in a US shipyard to build the vessels domestically. But it was cancelled following extensive design modifications, labour shortages, major cost overruns and delays. Work will continue on only two hulls already under construction, but the first ship will not be delivered until 2029. It was due for delivery this year.

More Articles from SCMP

Disposable fashion trend among Chinese tourists sparks waste and health concerns

About 4 in 5 young, affluent investors in mainland China turn to offshore assets: study

Disgraced lawmaker William Wong to face 4 charges, including dangerous driving

21 men, including private tutors, arrested for possessing child porn, unlawful filming

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.