Photo caption: U.S. Marines with Animal Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, conduct a simulated raid in Queensland, Australia, July 17, 2025, during Talisman Sabre. USS America (LHA 6) – built by HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division – participated in the exercise. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Victor Gurrola)

Download the pdf

Aug. 1, 2025

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.

HII Reports Second Quarter Earnings: Reuters reported that HII reported second quarter results above Wall Street estimates on Thursday. Defense Daily reported on Thursday that throughput improved at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding divisions during the quarter and is expected to accelerate in the second half of the year. Trends around hiring and retention are also positive. Inside Defense reported on Thursday that HII CEO Chris Kastner is confident in the current teaming arrangement with General Dynamics Electric Boat used to build Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines. In a June Navy budget hearing, service Secretary John Phelan told lawmakers that to improve rates of ship procurement, he would be interested in seeing HII and Electric Boat build future Virginia-class submarines separately from each other. Overall, orders in the quarter were strong at $11.9 billion, helping drive backlog to a record $56.9 billion, up 17% from $48.7 billion at the end of 2024.

HII Appoints Nick Stanage To Board Of Directors: GovCon Wire reported Wednesday that Nick Stanage, a former chairman and CEO of Hexcel, has been elected to the HII board of directors. Stanage led Hexcel from 2013 to 2024, following earlier executive roles at Dana Holding and Honeywell Aerospace. His background includes operational experience in engineered materials, production systems and innovation-driven manufacturing. HII Board Chairman Kirk Donald cited Stanage’s leadership and industry insight as valuable assets as the company pursues long-term growth. Stanage also serves on the board of TriMas and holds engineering and business degrees from Western Michigan and Notre Dame.

Mission Technologies Books $74 Million Task Order: Executive Biz reported on Friday, July 25, that HII’s Mission Technologies division has received a $74 million task order for continuing its support to the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicle Directorate on delivering modeling and simulation capabilities. The order involves developing the capabilities for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force and strategic partners, including training simulations accessible while in the field over five years. Mission Technologies will also develop software for decision-making support using machine-to-machine data gathering. Work performance will be at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico.

Senate Appropriators Approve $21 Billion Defense Budget Boost: Politico reported Thursday that the Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a major rewrite of President Donald Trump’s flat defense budget, endorsing a Pentagon funding hike of more than $21 billion. The committee’s bill dedicates $852.5 billion to defense programs and adds $8.7 billion to the Navy’s shipbuilding budget. The additional funding includes costs to complete ships now under construction, advance procurement funding for the Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines and push forward funding for an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer to be procured in 2027. Inside Defense reported Thursday that the bill passed by the committee is far from the last word in terms of fiscal year 2026 defense appropriations. The House Appropriations Committee has approved an $832 billion topline for the Defense Department, the Senate Armed Services Committee has approved $887 billion, and the House Armed Services Committee’s bill authorizes $848 billion. The vote move sets up a clash with the House, where Republicans narrowly passed a more conservative bill that hews closer to the White House request and relies on the GOP megabill passed July 4 to boost defense programs.

 Multi-National Group Pitches Ice Breaker Bid: USNI News reported on Tuesday that Louisiana-based Bollinger, Finnish companies Rauma Shipyards and Aker Arctic and Canadian company Seaspan Shipyards are teaming to bid for the U.S. Coast Guard’s medium icebreaker. The team will use a design developed by Seaspan and Aker. The agreement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has called for the construction of as many as 40 icebreakers. The recently passed reconciliation bill added $5 billion for the new class of medium icebreakers, plus Great Lakes icebreakers that would supplement the construction of the Polar-class security cutter currently under construction at Bollinger’s Pascagoula, Mississippi yard. Workboat reported on Tuesday that the multi-purpose icebreaker design from Seaspan and Aker is designed to break ice up to four feet thick with a range of 12,000 nautical miles and displace about 9,000 tons. The Canadian Coast Guard is purchasing up to 16 of the Seaspan and Aker multi-purpose icebreaker design for about $10 billion with a primary mission of breaking ice that forms within inland waterways, according the Canadian government. Bollinger said the partnership could deliver the first hull in 36 months, relying on Rauma’s yard in Finland to build the first hull.

HII’s Weekly News Digest is produced by HII’s Corporate Communications team and posted to MyHII every Friday.

Please note: Social media is blocked on HII computers for most employees. Employees are encouraged to visit HII’s Facebook page and other social media sites on personal time and from non-work devices.

Send feedback to: HII_Communications@hii-co.com.