Why Hanwha’s Defense Ownership Structure Centers on Hanwha Aerospace

The Main Control Line Runs from Hanwha Corp. to Hanwha Aerospace. Hanwha Corp.’s official ownership chart shows Hanwha Energy holding 22.2% of its common shares. Following a late-2025 stake sale, Hanwha Energy is owned 50% by Kim Dong-kwan, 20% by Kim Dong-won, 10% by Kim Dong-sun and 20% by a financial investor. Chairman Kim Seung-youn and his three sons also own Hanwha Corp. shares directly, so indirect ownership through Hanwha Energy is not the whole control picture.

Hanwha Corp. directly owns 33.95% of Hanwha Aerospace. Filings show the largest shareholder and related parties together in the mid-35% range, but the SVG uses the direct corporate link. A direct holding and a related-party total cover different holders and should not be treated as the same percentage.

Land Systems, Electronics and Naval Platforms Meet Below Aerospace. Hanwha Aerospace operates K9 howitzers, Chunmoo launchers, aircraft engines and space-launch businesses while also serving as an intermediate holding hub. It directly owns 46.73% of Hanwha Systems, while Hanwha Energy separately owns 12.80%. The simple total is 59.53%, but Hanwha Energy is an upper-tier shareholder, not an Aerospace subsidiary.

Hanwha Systems supplies radar, command-and-control, communications and naval combat systems. Keeping platform builders Aerospace and Ocean in the same control network as Systems makes it easier to combine capabilities in R&D and export proposals. The companies remain separate legal entities, with their own contracts and profit statements.

Operating Companies Continue Below Systems and Ocean. Hanwha Systems’ first-quarter 2026 report lists Hanwha Systems USA, Hanwha Systems UK, Australia’s HAA No.1, HS USA Holdings and Hanwha Philly Shipyard among entities in the consolidated group’s other businesses. HS USA Holdings is a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Systems and indirectly holds 60% of Philly Shipyard. Philly is therefore a major subsidiary consolidated by Hanwha Systems.

Hanwha Ocean disclosed 21 consolidated subsidiaries, including six major subsidiaries, at the end of 2025. They include Hanwha Ocean Ecotech, which produces ship blocks and components; the Shandong production company in China; Hanwha Ocean Engineering; and local investment, sales and engineering entities in the United States, Brazil and India. The chart shows only the entities most relevant to the defense-maritime value chain and U.S. expansion, not all 21 companies.

For Hanwha Ocean, Separate the 37.68% Direct Stake from the PRS. As of the April 8, 2026 filing, Hanwha Aerospace directly owned 30.44% of Hanwha Ocean common shares and Hanwha Systems owned 7.24%. Their directly held common shares totaled 37.68%. The 11.57% Systems stake still found in older materials predates the PRS transaction and is no longer the current direct holding.

Hanwha Systems transferred part of its Ocean stake to securities-firm special-purpose companies and entered into a one-year price return swap to raise roughly KRW 1.7 trillion. Legal title and direct voting rights moved, but Systems retained economic exposure because the difference between the eventual disposal price and a reference price must be settled. This is a financial contract rather than a subsidiary relationship, so the SVG separates it with a dashed line.

The Structure Was Built Through Acquisitions and Reorganization. The sequence began with Hanwha’s 2015 acquisitions of Samsung Techwin and Samsung Thales. Techwin became Hanwha Aerospace, while Thales became the defense-electronics base of Hanwha Systems. In 2022, Hanwha Corp.’s defense division was transferred to Aerospace and Hanwha Defense was merged into it, concentrating engines, land systems, munitions and space capabilities.

In 2023, Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Systems participated in Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering’s capital increase, bringing what is now Hanwha Ocean into the group. Naval construction was added to land systems and aerospace, and Systems’ combat systems could be linked more closely with Ocean’s shipbuilding. The chart is the cumulative result of acquisitions, mergers, business transfers and capital increases, not a single transaction.

An Ownership Percentage Is Not an Earnings Allocation Table. Aerospace’s 46.73% ownership of Systems does not mean only 46.73% of Systems revenue appears in consolidated sales. A controlled subsidiary’s revenue and expenses are generally consolidated in full, with the share not attributable to the parent’s owners separated as non-controlling interests. The same distinction applies to Ocean.

Nor can revenue among affiliated companies simply be added, because intragroup transactions are eliminated on consolidation. Capital increases and stake sales also change the economic share and funding burden of existing shareholders. Voting control, accounting consolidation and cash-dividend paths should therefore be checked separately.

Three Changes Now Deserve Attention. First is the maturity and final disposal result of Systems’ Ocean PRS. Second is the timetable for Hanwha Corp.’s planned demerger and where defense holdings sit afterward. Third is whether later capital increases or stake transactions at Aerospace and Systems alter ownership and cash flow.

The SVG is therefore a snapshot of directly held common shares confirmed as of July 25, 2026. The history and potential business synergies explain how the structure emerged, but any later control change must be updated using the completion date and post-transaction percentage in new filings.