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The U.S. House Armed Services Committee has passed the fiscal 2027 (October 2026–September 2027) National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes a provision banning the construction of U.S. Navy warships at overseas shipyards.
According to the website of Representative Jared Golden (D-Maine) on the 7th (local time), Golden said in a press release issued on the 5th, "Under the NDAA provision approved by the House Armed Services Committee early this morning, the U.S. Navy will have to withdraw its plan to send shipbuilding jobs overseas."
The NDAA is an annual bill authorizing the Defense Department's budget spending and policies, and takes effect after passing both the House and Senate and being signed by the president.
The House Armed Services Committee passed the fiscal 2027 NDAA on the 5th by a vote of 44 to 12 after several rounds of revisions. Golden's amendment, which prohibits the use of funds to build U.S. Navy warships in foreign countries, was reflected in the bill.
Golden explained, "Two NDAA amendments I introduced were approved by the committee, one of which blocks the U.S. Navy's overseas outsourcing plan," adding, "This amendment adds a provision that none of the funds allocated to the Navy in fiscal 2027 may be required or spent to enter into procurement plans for warships to be built at foreign shipyards."
He continued, "U.S. military spending must support American jobs. The idea of building any part of our surface fleet on foreign soil with a foreign workforce is unacceptable," and said, "I thank my colleagues on the committee for recognizing that this plan is a threat to American industry, jobs, and national security."
The bill will move to the full House, and since a reconciliation process with the NDAA passed by the Senate remains, the amendment is not yet finalized. However, if this content remains intact through the final passage of the bill, it could disrupt the U.S. Defense Department's (Department of War's) plan to utilize shipyards of allies such as South Korea to secure next-generation warships. It could also have some impact on the "MASGA" (Make American Shipbuilding Great Again) initiative, a Korea-U.S. shipbuilding cooperation plan.
Earlier, according to recent reports by U.S. Navy specialist outlet USNI News and others, the U.S. Defense Department allocated $1.85 billion (about 2.7 trillion won) in its fiscal 2027 budget for an "advanced shipbuilding industrial base and future ship experimentation program," and specified that procurement options for additional ship acquisition "include research on the capability of allied shipbuilders to build ships or components."
Former U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan also said in a recent interview, "We are reviewing the possibility of acquiring warships from abroad," adding, "Because of production feasibility, we could lean toward countries like South Korea and Japan."
