U.S President Trump Orders Pentagon To Consider Foreign-Built Warships & Steam Catapults
U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a memorandum asking the Pentagon to expand naval shipbuilding by acquiring warships and auxiliary vessels built in other countries, citing limits of the U.S. industrial base, rising costs, and labour shortages.
Trump has urged the extended use of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Finland Model, under which two different classes of medium icebreakers are being built simultaneously in the U.S. and in Finland.
Under this model, foreign shipbuilders can construct the first two ships abroad, focusing on anti-submarine warfare frigates, RORO ships and replenishment tankers, given they manufacture all subsequent ships of the…