Photo caption: Aviation Electrician’s Mates conduct maintenance on an F/A-18E Super Hornet aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. USS Theodore Roosevelt was built at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division and was most recently at NNS for its midlife overhaul. The carrier returned to service after its RCOH in 2013. (U.S. Navy photo)
Sept. 13, 2024
HII’s Weekly News Digest is compiled every Friday by the Corporate Communications team to summarize and highlight news stories of significance to the company.
House’s Stopgap Funding Measure Stalls: Politico reported on Wednesday that House GOP leaders have pulled their six-month stopgap funding plan — hours before a scheduled floor vote — in an effort to build consensus before rescheduling the vote for next week. House GOP leaders have already been whipping the bill despite nearly a dozen Republicans have publicly said they plan to vote against it. The package would fund the government through March 28 and is combined with legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, known as the SAVE Act. The White House and Democratic House leaders have said that proposal is a non-starter. The Hill reported on Wednesday that House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-Ala., has said he will not vote for a proposed continuing resolution that extends beyond Dec. 31. USNI News reported on Monday that a six-month stopgap defense spending bill could put the schedule of the second Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine at risk and delay the mid-life overhaul of aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75). Those estimates were provided by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a letter to the four Congressional defense committees.
White House Scuttles Shipyard Accountability Initiative: USNI News reported on Thursday that the White House’s Office of Management and Budget has rejected a Navy plan that would fundamentally reshape how the service contracts submarines. The Shipyard Accountability and Workforce Support, or SAWS, initiative would take about half of the workforce cost — shipbuilders who work across the yard but not on a specific submarine — out of the individual submarine contracts and convert it to an annual fee-for-service for the two submarine yards. The cost of workers, such as crane operators and supervisors who work across the yard, would be funded by a separate support contract and money already awarded to boats in the queue would be reshuffled to cover immediate labor and capital improvement needs for sub builders General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. Despite the White House’s resistance with the proposal, the Navy and the House and Senate armed services committees all like the plan. On Wednesday, the National Review published commentary penned by American Enterprise Institute analyst Mackenzie Eaglen who described a similar contracting formula. “[The Navy] should immediately change its submarine-contracting strategy to an annualized procurement of service and support costs for all nuclear-powered ships under construction, instead of procuring these costs per hull,” she wrote.
Navy Awards BlueForge $950 Million Contract: Breaking Defense reported on Wednesday that the Navy has awarded BlueForge Alliance a $950 million contract to continue its efforts in bolstering the submarine industrial base in the United States in preparation for the work necessary to carry out the AUKUS security pact. Roughly $500 million of the contract award is categorized under foreign military sales because it will directly support Australia’s anticipated purchase of three or five Virginia-class submarines by adding capacity to the American industrial base. USNI News reported on Wednesday that the Navy believes it needs 100,000 shipbuilders to support building the Columbia-class ballistic missile and Virginia-class boats over the next decade. Washington Technology reported on Wednesday that prior to Tuesday’s contract announcement, the Navy had previously awarded the company roughly $500 million to boost the service’s campaign to hire workers from across the country. The new contract brings the total amount of money the Navy has awarded to BlueForge up to nearly $1.3 billion.
Social Media Highlight Of The Week 
Posted Thursday on HII’s Facebook page: “Mayors and city council chief executives from Western Australia met with instructors and apprentices at our #NewportNewsShipbuilding Apprentice School on Monday, September 9, learning about cutting-edge workforce training that supports the construction and maintenance of nuclear powered U.S. Navy submarines. HII continues to foster partnerships and share best practices with international allies to strengthen industrial capacity.” |
HII Ships Set To Go Into Service: NJ.com reported on Friday, Sept. 6, that Virginia-class fast attack submarine New Jersey (SSN 796) will be commissioned this Saturday, Sept. 14, at Naval Weapons Station Earle. New Jersey was built and delivered by HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. Military.com reported on Wednesday that the boat is the first of its kind to support male and female sailors. Following New Jersey, all future nuclear-powered attack submarines and all new Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines are being designed “gender-neutral from the keel up,” said Vice Adm. Robert Gaucher, commander of Submarine Forces Atlantic. This will be the second commissioning in as many weeks for HII ships. USNI News reported on Saturday, Sept. 6, that the Navy commissioned USS Richard M. McCool, Jr. (LPD 29) that day at Naval Air Station Pensacola. LPD 29 is the 13th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock built and delivered by HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division.
HII Delivers REMUS 620 UUVs To NOAA For Seafloor Restoration: Marine Technology reported HII’s Mission Technologies division has delivered two enhanced REMUS 620 uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to support high-resolution ocean floor mapping. Executive Biz reported on Tuesday the REMUS 620 is equipped with synthetic aperture sonar and advanced energy modules, designed to aid NOAA in its mission to restore seafloor habitats impacted by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. HII has sold more than 600 REMUS uncrewed water vehicles, which are operational in over 30 countries, including 14 NATO member nations. More than 90% of REMUS vehicles delivered by HII in the last two decades remain operational.
HII’s Weekly News Digest is produced by HII’s Corporate Communications team and posted to Homeport every Friday.
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