The US Navy is outsourcing major maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) work on its warships to Asian shipyards in Japan, Korea, and the Philippines due to the decline of its domestic shipbuilding base. The Benfold, a US warship, underwent repairs at a Philippine port in 10 days. According to a recent report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, this strategy allows the US to potentially support extended deployments, including during wartime, by reducing the need for ships to return to the mainland for repairs. Regional partnerships and legal flexibility enable the use of foreign MRO services for deployed US warships.
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Leaning score +0.35 for article 4879 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-09-05
How Asian shipyards in Japan, Korea and Philippines keep US warships battle ready
Legal flexibility and regional partnerships allow US Seventh Fleet vessels to undergo complex overhauls closer to potential conflict zones
The facility is among the repair and maintenance hubs the US Navy has been developing in the region, strategically pushing for allies to perform major maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) work on US naval vessels given the decline of its shipbuilding base at home.
asserted
allies → keep → home
The repair work on the Benfold in the Philippine port took about 10 days before it resumed operations.
asserted
it → take → operations
While US law mandates that major warships be built domestically, outsourcing MRO to foreign yards offers more flexibility, especially for forward-deployed vessels.
asserted
outsourcing → mandate → vessels
Naval vessels homeported outside the United States are not strictly prohibited from receiving foreign MRO services and deployed US-homeported ships may also be serviced by foreign workers under specific conditions.
uncertain
ships → homeporte → conditions
The capacity of regional allies in the western Pacific, including Japan and South Korea, is particularly vital, given their distance from the continental US as well as Washington’s intensifying strategic competition with Beijing.
asserted
capacity → include → Beijing
“By establishing the ability to repair and sustain larger numbers of ships closer to potential conflict areas in the Indo-Pacific, the United States could potentially support extended deployments – including during wartime – by reducing the need to recall ships to the US mainland for repairs,” the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies said in a recent report.
uncertain
tank → establish → report
