The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee expressed support for U.S.-South Korea cooperation on nuclear-powered submarines while directing the Pentagon and State Department to assess the strategic implications of such a program, according to report language accompanying the Senate’s fiscal year 2027 defense authorization bill. The committee said it supports bilateral cooperation on submarine manufacturing and acknowledged the potential benefits for stability and security in the Indo-Pacific, while ordering a report by Feb. 2027 on the scope of cooperation, regional security implications, costs and proliferation risks.

The report also directs the U.S. government to evaluate how South Korea’s acquisition of