WASHINGTON — South Korean industrial giant Hanwha Group today announced the appointment of industry veteran Michael Smith as chief executive of its U.S.-focused defense division.
The company said John Kelly, who was appointed CEO in May 2021, will remain on until mid-September to assist with the transition and then “leave the company to pursue new opportunities.”
Smith is a Navy veteran who has held senior management positions at HII, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems, including president of HII’s nuclear division and vice president of Unmanned Maritime Systems at Lockheed.
Smith will become head of Hanwha’s U.S. defense division, which is poised to make big strides in sales to the Pentagon, whether that be in shipbuilding with its acquisition of the Philadelphia Shipyards or in its proposed sale of howitzers to the U.S. Army.
Related: How South Korea’s defense industry transformed into a global player
The South Korean conglomerate currently sits at No. 19 on Defense News’ list of the top 100 defense companies by revenue, jumping up from No. 26 on the back of a 42 percent increase in defense sales from 2022 to 2023.
Smith said in a statement that he believes there is a “tremendous opportunity” for Hanwha to expand its role in the U.S. defense industrial base.
“Hanwha not only brings proven platforms and technology, but also proven process maturity that has been successfully deployed across multiple products and markets,” he said. “Bringing cost-effective operations and execution certainty is as important to the Department of Defense as warfighting capability and deterrence for U.S. service members.”
Kelly joined Hanwha in 2020 as its director of U.S. business development, and Hanwha said his expertise helped the company’s newly established U.S. defense subsidiary build relationships with the Department of Defense.
The U.S. defense supply chain “tends to be pretty well guarded and it’s hard for foreign companies to get in,” Kelly told Breaking Defense in an interview in 2023. “I think we’re seeing that paradigm now reach its limits because there’s literally not enough supply.”
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