WASHINGTON — Hanwha Philly Shipyard will construct a new missile range instrumentation vessel, dubbed Golden Defender, to support the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile shield system, the head of the Office of Management and Budget said today.
Russell Vought said that OMB’s shipbuilding team looked at the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) currently used as a training ship at state maritime academies also possessed a “range of applications” and thought that the design could fit other mission sets.
“We quickly realized that there was an emergent need that the NSMV design naturally lent itself to, and with a hot production line here in Philly, we quickly worked with our partners across government to identify the resources to support additional construction, leveraging Hanwa’s Philly Shipyard and its experienced workforce,” Vought said during a visit to the shipyard to christen the Lone Star State NSVM. “It is thus my honor to announce the awarding of a contract to build the missile range instrumentation vessel Golden Defender right here in Philadelphia under the combined management of Hanwha Philly and TOTE Services as the vessel construction manager.”
“This new ship will not only support the president’s policies of restoring American maritime dominance, but also support the president’s Golden Dome missile defense system over the entirety of our nation,” Vought said. “Golden Defender will serve the Missile Defense Agency in its mission.”
The Missile Defense Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Breaking Defense. Missile range instrumentation vessels track missile launches and monitor foreign weapons tests.
Golden Dome is President Donald Trump’s ambitious, signature missile defense project that aims to use everything from traditional air defenses to space-based interceptors to protect the nation from any airborne threat.
The announcement comes after Trump and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., revealed Wednesday at the Defense Innovation Summit that Hanwha’s Philly Shipyard would build two additional NSMVs, but additional details about these ships’ role supporting Golden Dome were not disclosed at the time.
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Hanwha Philly Shipyard is a subsidiary of South Korean-based Hanwha Group. Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean acquired the Philly Shipyard in 2024.
TOTE Services already serves as the vessel construction manager (VCM) for the other NSMVs that are currently built at Hanwha’s Philly Shipyard for the US Maritime Administration. On Monday, the Navy announced that TOTE Services would serve as the VCM for the Landing Ship Medium program.
In addition to the NSMV vessels, Hanwha’s Philly Shipyard also constructs commercial vessels. Meanwhile, Hanwha has signaled in recent months they would vie for contracts with the US Navy. For example, president and CEO of Hanwha Defense USA Michael Coulter said in April that the firm had proposals underway for vessels like the Landing Ship Medium (LSM).
“The Navy has expressed an interest in us broadening from the largely commercial and MARAD-based ships into everything from auxiliaries to combatants in Philly,” Coulter told reporters at the time.
According to Coulter, the goal is to increase capacity at the Philly shipyard to ten to 20 ships annually. That’s up from the three ships that the shipyard is scheduled to wrap up this year, Coulter said.