HD Hyundai and Anduril Industries form strategic partnership

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest commercial and military shipbuilder, and Anduril Industries have agreed to a strategic partnership to reimagine and rebuild naval power for the United States, the Republic of Korea, and their allies and partners.

With more than five decades of experience, HD Hyundai designs and builds commercial vessels, warships, submarines, and other maritime systems. It is the largest part of a South Korean shipbuilding industry that currently accounts for nearly half of total shipbuilding capacity in the world. Anduril has developed a growing family of low-cost autonomous military systems and weapons that are all built on its Lattice software platform, which delivers AI-enabled sensor fusion, mission autonomy, distributed network management, and command and control for robotic systems.

“With the rise of autonomous naval systems as a significant component for future maritime defence, we expect to pioneer the market with our warship-building capacity and leading defence technology combined,” said Won-ho Joo, Chief Operating Officer of Naval & Special Ship Business Unit at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Under this strategic partnership, HD Hyundai and Anduril will pursue collaborative efforts to design, develop, and produce new and different types of autonomous naval systems for the United States, the Republic of Korea, and their allies and partners. America’s traditional defence industrial base can no longer generate sufficient numbers of naval forces to maintain deterrence amid dangerous shifts in the global balance of military power, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, says Anduril.

This partnership brings together HD Hyundai’s world-leading shipbuilding capabilities with Anduril’s proven ability to conceive and develop software-defined, AI-enabled military systems. The companies will pursue new classes of low-cost, mass producible autonomous maritime systems that can support the United States, the Republic of Korea, and their allies and partners in bolstering global peace and security, Anduril adds.

This partnership will also provide HD Hyundai, working through Anduril, greater access to the US defence market, while providing Anduril, working through HD Hyundai, greater access to the Republic of Korea’s defence market.