South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering has won the bid to build four new tankers for the UK Ministry of Defence.
Known as the Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability tankers, the contract is worth £452m ($708.2m).
The four vessels are scheduled to be delivered by 2016 and will be come part of the renewal of the UK’s Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which provides logistics support for the Royal Navy.
DSME won the bid in conjunction with UK designers BMT Defence Services.
Bernard Gray, head of defence equipment and support at the Ministry of Defence, said, “A foreign build offers best value for money for defence, while BMT Defence Services’ design ensures our ability to meet international maritime obligations.”