HII Details Strategy to Increase Shipbuilding Pace for U.S. Navy
In a recent House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense field hearing at College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, Eric Chewning, executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy at HII (NYSE: HII), reiterated the company’s dedication to fortifying the nation’s defense industrial base and revitalizing U.S. shipbuilding. The event saw Chewning emphasizing the critical need for a modernized workforce, upgraded shipyard infrastructure, and an expanded maritime industrial base to ensure national security.
Focus on Accelerating Throughput and Increasing Shipbuilding Pace
Drawing on his experience as the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Policy, Chewning highlighted past reforms aimed at addressing strategic threats and enhancing resilience. He shed light on HII’s efforts to boost throughput to meet national security demands, citing a significant 14% year-over-year increase in shipyard throughput in 2025. With approximately 40 ships undergoing construction or modernization at Ingalls and Newport News, Chewning outlined a target of a 15% year-over-year throughput increase in 2026.
Strategic Approach to Increasing Throughput
Chewning outlined HII’s strategy to ramp up throughput, focusing on three key aspects. This strategy includes recruiting, training, and retaining a top-tier workforce, modernizing shipbuilding infrastructure through capital investments like the integration of physical AI in shipbuilding, and expanding the maritime industrial base by bolstering HII’s supply chain and implementing a distributed shipbuilding approach.
Chewning expressed gratitude to Congress and the Navy for their support, enabling HII to enter into new shipyard collective bargaining agreements that provided competitive wage hikes to maintain a highly skilled workforce. Additionally, he highlighted HII’s ongoing expansion of the industrial base, with plans to strategically outsource over two million hours of work in 2026, a 178% increase from 2024. This outsourcing initiative aims to enhance HII’s shipbuilding throughput, create jobs nationwide, and instill confidence in small- and medium-sized businesses to invest in their capacity and workforce.
Chewning’s remarks underscored the collaborative efforts between industry, the federal government, and state partners in bolstering America’s maritime dominance. The transformation of HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding Charleston Operations into an advanced manufacturing campus exemplifies the success of such partnerships in strengthening the submarine industrial base and expanding skilled trade opportunities.
