HII Increases Throughput, Expands Industrial Base through Distributed Shipbuilding
Rhea-AI Summary
HII (NYSE: HII) is significantly expanding its shipbuilding capacity through strategic partnerships and distributed manufacturing. The company has doubled its outsourced hours in 2025 and plans to quadruple them within two years. HII's structural assembly network now includes 23 partner companies and continues to grow.
Key developments include the acquisition of a manufacturing facility in Goose Creek, South Carolina for submarine modules and aircraft carrier units, and partnerships with six different shipbuilding partners for Arleigh Burke-class destroyer construction. The company has also formed international partnerships with Hyundai Heavy Industries and Babcock International Group to enhance production efficiency.
Positive
- Strategic expansion of production capacity through 23 partner companies
- Doubled outsourced hours in 2025 with plans to quadruple within two years
- Acquisition of new manufacturing facility in South Carolina for submarine and aircraft carrier production
- Establishment of international partnerships with major shipbuilders
- Improved hiring rates and reduced attrition
Negative
- Increased dependency on external partners and suppliers
- Potential complexity in managing distributed manufacturing operations
- Quality control challenges across multiple facilities
Insights
HII's distributed shipbuilding strategy expands production capacity, addressing Navy demand while strengthening the industrial base across multiple states.
HII's strategic shift toward distributed shipbuilding represents a significant operational transformation aimed at addressing the increased demand from the U.S. Navy. By expanding their structural assembly network to 23 companies and planning to quadruple outsourced hours over a two-year period, HII is effectively addressing production bottlenecks that have historically challenged naval shipbuilding schedules.
The acquisition of the Goose Creek manufacturing facility in South Carolina (now Charleston Operations) creates a dedicated site for completed submarine modules and aircraft carrier structural units, providing HII with much-needed additional capacity beyond their traditional Newport News facilities. This geographic diversification mitigates workforce constraints in any single region while creating economic benefits across multiple states.
For Ingalls Shipbuilding, the distribution of Arleigh Burke-class destroyer work across six different shipbuilding partners in multiple states represents a paradigm shift in naval shipbuilding. By targeting locations with existing skilled labor and facility capacity outside their traditional labor market, HII is addressing one of the industry's most persistent challenges: workforce availability. This distributed model supports construction of DDGs 135, 137, and 139, suggesting improved delivery timelines for these critical vessels.
The international partnerships with Hyundai Heavy Industries and Babcock International Group further enhance HII's ability to implement best practices and technologies from global leaders. These relationships potentially bring valuable knowledge transfer and technology sharing that could improve production efficiency across HII's operations.
This distributed approach fundamentally addresses the capacity constraints that have challenged naval shipbuilding programs, potentially improving schedule adherence while strengthening the broader industrial base needed for future naval buildups.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Sept. 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HII (NYSE: HII) is partnering with shipyards and fabricators in multiple states to grow its throughput and meet the increased demand for ships by the U.S. Navy. With its customer’s support, HII is bringing the work to more companies and more jobs in more states, expanding capacity of the U.S. shipbuilding industrial base and improving schedule adherence for all ships built by HII.
“HII is all in on our commitment to grow our throughput and turn out more ships at both yards more quickly for the Navy,” HII CEO and President Chris Kastner said. “We’ve already doubled our outsourced hours in 2025 and we are on track to quadruple them in a two year period. Our hiring is up, our attrition is down, and our experience base is growing.”
HII’s structural assembly network, consisting of companies that contribute to outsourced modular assembly of ships, is at 23 companies and growing.
For Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, the most recent example of pushing work beyond the shipyard is HII’s acquisition of a manufacturing facility in Goose Creek, South Carolina. At what is now known as the company’s Charleston Operations, HII is committed to producing completed submarine modules and structural aircraft carrier units at the site, with significant room for future expansion. Additionally, HII has identified a number of key manufacturing partners in Virginia and beyond that are building certain structural assemblies for future submarines and aircraft carriers. This evolution to a more distributed shipbuilding model will expand production of the next generation of Navy’s fleet.
A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://hii.com/news/hii-increases-throughput-expands-industrial-base-through-distributed-shipbuilding/.
For Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, select outfitted structural units for Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are being constructed, inspected and accepted at partner locations and later delivered to Ingalls for final integration. These partners were strategically selected beyond the company’s traditional labor market, at locations with existing skilled labor and facility capacity.
Early phases of this destroyer work are already underway with six different shipbuilding partners in multiple states. Additional work packages to include more U.S. shipbuilding partners are under evaluation. The current scope of this work will support construction of DDGs 135, 137 and 139.
In addition to securing outsourcing partnerships domestically, HII is exploring innovative methods to expand defense and commercial opportunities internationally and has created international partnerships to enhance technological innovations and maximize production efficiency. HII has international partnerships with Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Babcock International Group to enhance throughput and strengthen the shipbuilding industrial base. HII’s international partnerships aim to capitalize on mutual strengths, expand shipbuilding capabilities and explore new market opportunities that strengthen the global defense industry.
About HII
HII is a global, all-domain defense provider. HII’s mission is to deliver the world’s most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world.
As the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HII’s workforce is 44,000 strong. For more information, visit:
- HII on the web: https://www.HII.com/
- HII on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TeamHII
- HII on X: https://www.twitter.com/WeAreHII
- HII on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/WeAreHII
Contact:
Danny Hernandez
Danny.J.Hernandez@HII-co.com
(240) 264-7143
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5c0efc92-2593-4081-a84c-25400a40670b
FAQ
What is HII's plan to increase shipbuilding capacity in 2025?
How many partner companies are in HII's structural assembly network?
What international partnerships has HII formed for shipbuilding?
What is HII building at its new Goose Creek, South Carolina facility?
Which destroyer classes are being built through HII's partner network?
