Photo caption: U.S. Marines and sailors man the rails aboard the USS New York (LPD 21) during Fleet Week New York 2025 in New York City, May 21, 2025. LPD 21 was built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division and delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2009. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Kayla Halloran)

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May 23, 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.

Australian Companies Express Interest In AUKUS Supply Chain: Australia Defence Magazine reported on Thursday that a joint venture between HII and Babcock – known as H&B Defence – is evaluating submissions from close to 200 Australian businesses that are vying to be a part of the Australian Submarine Supplier Qualification pilot program. Qualifying businesses will be allowed to compete for supply chain opportunities with HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division in ways that support AUKUS Pillar 1, which focuses on delivering nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. Australian suppliers will have the opportunity to register for a total of seven work packages across the two-year AUSSQ Pilot Program. Defence Connect reported on Wednesday that H&B Defence is equipped to support all stages of Australia’s optimal pathway to sovereign nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS Pillar 1. This includes workforce development, nuclear infrastructure design and construction, submarine defueling and decommissioning, nuclear waste management and future sustainment, ensuring Australia is ready to support both Virginia-class submarines and the next-generation SSN-AUKUS fleet.

House Domestic Policy Bill Heads To Senate For Consideration: Politico reported on Friday that Senate Republicans will almost certainly make changes to the massive domestic policy bill approved by the House Thursday morning. While the end product is likely to contain sweeping areas of overlap with the proposal negotiated by House Speaker Mike Johnson, GOP senators made clear Thursday that the House bill can’t pass without major changes. Just what those changes entail are still up for debate. The House bill includes a fresh round of tax cuts sought by President Donald Trump, as well as hundreds of billions of dollars in new funding for the military and border security. Breaking Defense reported on Thursday the House bill adds $150 billion in defense spending aimed at boosting major Trump administration priorities. While the bill includes $24.7 billion for Golden Dome investments, it also adds $33.7 billion for shipbuilding, including a Virginia-class submarine, two Arleigh Burke destroyers, industrial base investments, and $4.6 billion for unmanned surface ships and underwater vehicles. Meanwhile, Inside Defense reported on Wednesday that the House Appropriations Committee will meet June 13 to mark up its version of the fiscal year 2026 defense spending bill. The committee’s defense panel will meet in a classified session on June 10 to do its work on the bill.

$175 Billion Golden Dome Design Highlights Missile Defense Priorities: Reuters reported on Tuesday that President Donald Trump has selected a design for the $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense shield and named Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein to lead the program. While the president has said the defense shield should be operational by the end of his term in January 2029, some industry experts were less certain of that timeframe and the cost. Regardless, the House approved its domestic policy bill on Thursday with $24.7 billion for Golden Dome investments. Defense News reported on Tuesday that the capability is expected to include a mix of ground and space-based interceptors designed to defeat a spectrum of threats — from lower-end weapons to advanced hypersonic and cruise missiles. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed Canada is talking with the U.S. about partnering in, and providing investments for, the missile defense system.

Hanwha Outlines Philly Shipyard Expansion Plans: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Wednesday that Korean shipbuilder Hanwha plans to spend more than $70 million to refit the Philly Shipyard and add facilities elsewhere on the Delaware River to construct the first U.S.-built liquid natural gas (LNG) carriers. Hanwha’s investment will include upgrading the 2,000-foot-long former Navy dry docks in South Philadelphia to increase production, allowing the shipyard to build one ship each month. The planned expansion of the yard would boost sales of Philly-built ships to $4 billion a year from less than $400 million last year, Hanwha leaders told investment analysts at a meeting earlier this week. Hanwha has said it plans to more than double employment at the South Philadelphia yard to around 4,000 by 2034, adding design engineers and marine welders, among other specialties. Hanwha also hopes to build unmanned vessels for the U.S. Navy. Employment at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard stood at 1,700 last year when Hanwha bought it from investors led by Norway’s Aker for $100 million. To build larger ships, Hanwha says it needs more space than what it purchased from Aker. It controls the two largest dry docks at the former Navy yard, one of which lacks gates and is used mostly as a pier. Both would need substantial upgrades to be used to build commercial-grade ships, according to the company. Business Korea reported on Tuesday that Hanwha has sent more than 50 experts to the shipyard to assess current conditions and carry out initiatives to improve production efficiency and modernize facilities.

Navy Solicits UUV Technology: Inside Defense reported on Tuesday that the Navy is seeking more unmanned underwater vehicle technology, asking industry members to come forward with commercial-off-the-shelf products that could be included under a small UUV program of record. The request for information, posted Monday, asks that industry members submit a description of their technology and the technical readiness level, adding that rapid fielding of the technology requires a technical readiness level of seven as a minimum. Additionally, the UUV should be capable of encrypted data storage, object detection, recognition, avoidance, and redirection, and equipped with navigation that utilizes global positioning and inertial navigation. Responses to the RFI are due June 30.

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

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