"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," Russell Vought said during a visit to the shipyard to christen the Lone Star State NSMV.
OMB repurposes NSMV design for a missile-range monitor
The Office of Management and Budget's shipbuilding team identified the National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) design as lending itself to multiple mission sets, Russell Vought said, and concluded there was an "emergent need" that the NSMV design "naturally lent itself to." That assessment led to a contract award for a missile range instrumentation vessel named Golden Defender to be built at Hanwha Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia.
Vought framed the choice of the NSMV hull as both expedient and practical given a "hot production line" at the Philly yard and interagency coordination to secure resources for additional construction.
Golden Defender's stated role for Golden Dome and MDA
According to Vought, Golden Defender will support the president's Golden Dome missile defense system and "serve the Missile Defense Agency in its mission." The Missile Defense Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Breaking Defense.
The article notes missile range instrumentation vessels perform specific tracking duties: they track missile launches and monitor foreign weapons tests. Golden Dome is described as President Donald Trump's 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."
Hanwha Philly Shipyard and TOTE Services as construction partners
Hanwha Philly Shipyard will construct Golden Defender under the combined management of Hanwha Philly and TOTE Services, with TOTE identified as the vessel construction manager (VCM). TOTE Services already serves as the VCM for other NSMVs currently being built at the Philly yard for the U.S. Maritime Administration.
On Monday, the Navy announced TOTE Services would also serve as the VCM for the Landing Ship Medium program, indicating continued use of TOTE in multiple ship construction programs at the yard.
Hanwha's ownership, ambitions, and capacity plans
Hanwha Philly Shipyard is a subsidiary of South Korean-based Hanwha Group; Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Ocean acquired the Philly Shipyard in 2024. In recent months, Hanwha has signaled an intent to compete for broader U.S. naval work beyond commercial and MARAD-focused builds.
Michael Coulter, president and CEO of Hanwha Defense USA, told reporters in April that the firm has proposals underway for vessels such as the Landing Ship Medium (LSM) and that "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 said the goal is to increase the shipyard's capacity to ten to 20 ships annually, up from the three ships the yard is scheduled to complete this year.
What this means for the Missile Defense Agency, the Navy, and Hanwha/TOTE Services
- Missile Defense Agency: MDA stands to receive an additional afloat sensor and tracking platform intended to support Golden Dome, but MDA had not commented on the award at the time of reporting.
- U.S. Navy: The Navy's use of TOTE Services as a vessel construction manager for multiple programs — including the Landing Ship Medium — signals continued reliance on rated VCM firms to manage construction lines when new mission sets are layered onto existing yards.
- Hanwha Philly Shipyard and TOTE Services: The Golden Defender contract, plus earlier announcements that Hanwha would build two additional NSMVs, advance Hanwha’s stated plan to broaden production from commercial and MARAD ships toward auxiliaries and potential combatants, while the firm pursues capacity increases at the Philadelphia yard.
The Golden Defender announcement followed a joint reveal by President Trump and Sen. Dave McCormick at the Defense Innovation Summit that Hanwha’s Philly Shipyard would build two additional NSMVs, though "additional details about these ships’ role supporting Golden Dome were not disclosed at the time." The reporting places the new missile-range vessel within ongoing shifts at the Philly yard — changes driven by ownership, new contracts, and an expressed push to expand annual output.
Key specifics remain to be disclosed: the schedule for Golden Defender’s construction and delivery, the exact sensors and mission systems it will carry, and the Missile Defense Agency's formal response to the award. Those concrete items will determine how quickly the platform augments Golden Dome and how the shipyard's capacity plans scale from three ships this year toward the ten-to-twenty annual target Michael Coulter described.
