Exclusive: A new Hanwha-Havoc team wants to jolt the defense market

Driving the news: Executives from both companies are this week in South Korea, where they are getting familiar with each other's shipyard operations and autonomous surface vessel capabilities.

• "We want to push the bounds of what's possible, and do it very quickly," Michael Coulter, Hanwha Global Defense's chief executive, told Axios.
• "We're on a global defense journey, and we're committed to growing an American workforce and leveraging all that technology and process from our parent," he said.
• U.S. shipbuilding capacity "is just insufficient," he added, despite it being "a national security imperative."

Zoom in: On the schedule was a demonstration of Havoc's vessels, some of which were stationed off Hawaii and were expected to be tasked from the other side of the Pacific.

• The showcase was set to include at least four 14-foot Rampages and one 42-foot Kaikoa.

What they're saying: "I think a lot of people ... are surprised by how mature our systems are," Havoc CEO Paul Lwin told Axios.

• Hanwha, he added, makes "us understand and de-risks being able to build thousands of autonomous vessels, and we are the startup that can move fast."
• The company was founded last year. It announced $85 million in new funding weeks ago.

Zoom out: U.S. officials — including President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — are spending the final days of October shuttling across the Indo-Pacific.

Go deeper: U.S. Navy leaders agree: "Embrace the robots"