South Korea, Japan and Turkey vie for US shipbuilding access in future frigate contest
Japan’s Mogami-class frigate is one of three foreign designs reportedly being evaluated by the US Navy. (Photo: Australian Defence Imagery)
Washington’s search for a foreign-built frigate could hand South Korea, Japan and Turkey a larger prize than a double-hull order: a foothold inside the US shipbuilding industrial base.
The US Navy’s (USN) consideration of South Korean, Japanese and Turkish frigate designs has largely been discussed as a three-way contest between individual warships. Read against the terms of the so-called “Finland model” that the White House wants to apply, the question is which nation’s defence-industrial base stands to gain the most from supplying Washington.
USNI News reported on 1 September 2026 that the White House and USN were weighing designs including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ (MHI) export Mogami-class frigate, South Korea’s Chungnam-class and Turkey’s Istanbul-class, citing three industry sources familiar with the deliberations. An international competition
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