Japanese, South Korean, Turkish Warships Under Consideration for New U.S. Frigate Competition

Japanese, South Korean and Turkish warships are under consideration for the new U.S. frigate. JMSDF, Turkish Navy and ROKN photos The White House and U.S. Navy are considering frigate designs from South Korea, Japan and Turkey for a new class of warships, USNI News has learned.

An international warship competition could include building up to two of the ships in foreign shipyards before transitioning to domestic yards as part of the Trump administration’s push to rapidly expand the fleet, three industry sources familiar with the deliberations confirmed to USNI News this week. The move would break with more than a century of U.S. domestic naval construction.

Potentially buying frigates abroad follows an August White House memo that opened the door for the Pentagon to consider foreign designs by invoking a “national security interest” waiver to bypass a U.S. law prohibiting foreign-built warships from entering naval service.

After the White House issued the memo, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao directed the office of the assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition William Mahan to oversee a study of international combatants, roll-on, roll-off cargo vessels and consolidated cargo replenishment at sea (CONSOL) tankers for Military Sealift Command, according to memo language reviewed by USNI News. That assessment is due Nov. 12, 2026.

Three sources told USNI News that the international designs under consideration include the export version of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ FFM Mogami-class guided-missile frigate and the Chungnam-class guided-missile frigate built by a variety of South Korean shipbuilders. The Istanbul-class guided-missile frigate built by several Turkish shipyards is also in the mix after a conversation between Turkish leadership and President Donald Trump on the sidelines of July’s NATO summit, two sources told USNI News.

An Istanbul-class guided-missile frigate. Turkish Navy photo A request for comment to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget was not immediately returned. In a statement to USNI News, a spokesperson for the Navy’s ASN RDA acknowledged the White House’s effort to utilize allies to bolster U.S. shipbuilding but did not directly address the potential for an open competition for a new frigate.

“The President has directed the Navy to aggressively increase domestic shipbuilding capacity, including leveraging the proven shipbuilding skills and industrial expertise of our allies,” Capt. Ron Flanders told USNI News on Tuesday. “We are actively developing options to fulfill the President’s intent to deliver ships faster while ensuring long-term investment, technology transfer, and workforce expansion within United States shipyards.”

The frigate deal could push for the so-called “Finland model” approach in which construction would likely start in a foreign yard for up to the first two hulls ahead of a foreign investment into U.S. facilities and shipbuilding infrastructure. The concept follows the U.S. Coast Guard approach to the Arctic Security Cutter in which the Finnish shipyards are building the initial hulls based on Canadian designs and then transitioning construction to a U.S. shipyard.

Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought has touted the Finland model in public speeches, calling for more competition in shipbuilding across the U.S. naval yards.

The frigate fits a current capability gap in the Navy’s surface force. Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, designed for high-end naval warfare, are often used for basic missions that less sophisticated platforms like a frigate could accomplish, service leaders have said.

A Mogami-class guided-missile frigate. JMSDF photo “The Navy can’t operate with only one size ship,” deputy program acquisition executive for combatants Rear Adm. Brian Metcalf said in a video on social media in July. “The frigate will fill that gap. They can be used in less contentious waters. They can be used as high-value escorts. There are all kinds of things the frigate can fill the gap for and allow destroyers to execute the high-end mission set.”

Late last year, then-Secretary of the Navy John Phelan cancelled the Constellation-class (FFG-62) guided-missile frigate program and instead pushed the FFX program to create a patrol frigate based on the Coast Guard’s National Security Cutter. The Constellation-class was slated to fulfill the Navy’s surface-based anti-submarine warfare capability. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding has started preproduction work for the first FFX frigate but has not been awarded a contract.

While last month’s White House memo invokes the national security interest waiver to pursue shipbuilding abroad, Congress is seeking to curtail the executive branch’s ability to use this exception. In draft language of its Fiscal Year 2027 defense policy bill, the Senate Armed Services Committee axed the waiver in an effort to limit the White House’s pursuit of foreign warship construction. The House Armed Services Committee’s draft of the policy bill included an amendment that would prevent any authorized funding from going toward contracts purchasing an American warship constructed in a foreign yard. Lawmakers have yet to release the final version of that legislation.

Concept art of a Chungnam-class guided-missile frigate. ROKN graphic The FY 2027 budget proposal first unveiled the effort, led by OMB, to pursue foreign warship designs. The reconciliation portion of the submission – which has an uncertain future on Capitol Hill – included $1.85 billion for a foreign warship design study. The study focused on purchasing warships from Japan and South Korea, Navy officials told USNI News.

Over the last few years, Navy officials in both the Biden and Trump administrations have visited South Korean shipyards. Phelan went to several yards in South Korea last year during his stint as Navy secretary.

Richard Breckenridge, a retired three-star who is currently serving as a senior advisor of shipbuilding in the Navy, was in South Korea at the end of August to stop at multiple shipyards, Business Korea reported.

In July a U.S. delegation from the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee visited HD Hyundai and Hanwha Ocean yards in South Korea, according to Korean wire service Yonhap.

In addition to Turkish and Asian shipbuilders, U.S. allies in Europe build a wide range of frigates. Wisconsin’s Constellation-class frigate builder Fincantieri Marinette Marine based its design on the widely exported FREMM multi-purpose frigate in use by the Italian and French navies.