Photo caption: A landing craft exits the well deck of the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship USS Somerset (LPD 25) off the coast of San Francisco during San Francisco Fleet Week Oct. 8, 2024. LPD 25 was built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division and commissioned by the U.S. Navy in 2014. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Evan Diaz)

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Oct. 11, 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.

Mission Technologies Awarded $75 Million Navy Support Contract: Executive Biz reported on Thursday that HII’s Mission Technologies division has booked a $75 million systems engineering contract to support integrated training systems onboard U.S. Navy vessels aimed at boosting sailors’ combat readiness. Tasks under the contract include integrating live, virtual and constructive networks with combat systems to enable sailors’ training on shipboard weapons consoles. The contract also calls for Mission Technologies’ modeling and simulation to support testing and readiness assessment. Washington Exec reported on Wednesday that the actions will take place at the Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division Dam Neck Activity headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia. HII has performed similar work for the Navy during the past 10 years, in addition to other related contracts underway. In October 2023, Mission Technologies secured a $134 million contract to provide readiness and training software development support, also for the Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division Dam Neck Activity headquarters.

Ingalls Launches First Flight II Amphib, LPD 30: USNI News reported on Tuesday that HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division has launched the first Flight II San Antonio-class amphibious warship, Harrisburg (LPD 30). The Flight IIs are designed to help replace the 1980 and 1990s-era Harpers Ferry/Whidbey Island-class amphibious warships. Harrisburg was moved on a specialized rail system from shore to the yard’s floating dry dock and lowered into the Pascagoula River on Saturday. The shipyard has two Flight II LPDs under construction – Harrisburg (LPD 30) and Pittsburgh (LPD 31). A third Flight II, Philadelphia (LPD 32), is in the planning phases. Stars and Stripes reported on Thursday that the Navy expects delivery of Harrisburg in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2025, according to a June report by the Government Accountability Office.

REMUS UUV Successfully Finishes Navy’s Lionfish Reviews: Defense Daily reported on Thursday that HII’s Mission Technologies division has the Navy’s test readiness and production readiness reviews, which marks the start of full rate production. The milestone comes about a year after the Navy awarded HII a contract potentially worth up to $347 million to build nine Lionfish small unmanned undersea vehicles, but it includes options for work to last through September 2028 and could increase the numbers to up to 200 vehicles. The Navy plans to use the Lionfish to replace the Mk 18 Mod 1 Swordfish UUV for mine countermeasures and ocean survey missions. The Swordfish is based on the HII REMUS 100 vehicles and the Lionfish is based on the newer REMUS 300. The REMUS 300, with various payload options, is a two-person portable SUUV that can weigh up to 150 pounds, can be 75 to 99 inches long and have a 29 to 89 nautical mile maximum range.

General Dynamics Wins SSN Contracts Totaling Nearly $2 Billion: Defense Daily reported on Wednesday that the Navy has awarded General Dynamics’ Electric Boat nearly $2 billion through a series of contracts in recent weeks that will support the Virginia-class attack submarine industrial base. Among those awards, a $244 million contract will be used to “provide unique parts and specialized material, including initial spares, for Virginia-class submarines.” Another $878 million undefinitized contract action modification will be used for additional material to support Baltimore (SSN 812) and yet-to-be-named SSN 813. On Tuesday, the Navy awarded Electric Boat a $350 million undefinitized contract action modification for long lead time material for future Block VI submarines. In the background of these contracts, the Navy is pushing to improve industrial base capacity so it can reach the current requirement of two SSNs plus one Columbia-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine per year by 2028. It then needs to go past that to make up for three to five SSNs the U.S. government plans to sell to Australia as part of the AUKUS agreement in the 2030s.

Hanwha To Pursue Module Work, Could Buy Second US Shipyard: Inside Defense reported on Thursday that South Korean defense giant Hanwha aims to take on module fabrication work for Navy ship and submarine programs as it begins operations at its recently acquired Philly Shipyard. “You start off getting your feet wet with doing module build, and when you do that, you’re building a track record with the Navy, but you’re also building relationships with the likes of Bath, Ingalls, Newport News, Marinette,” said Mike Smith, president and CEO of Hanwha Defense U.S.A. Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarines as well as Ford-class aircraft carriers and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are all programs where Hanwha could solicit module fabrication work, Smith said. Meanwhile, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday that Hanwha has its eye on further acquisitions of U.S. shipyards, potentially along the West Coast. “We’re not done,” said Smith, when asked whether the purchase of shipbuilder Philly Shipyard in Philadelphia in June for $100 million was a one-time deal.

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

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