On January 22, 2026, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) marked the first anniversary of its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) Charleston Operations facility in Goose Creek, South Carolina, with a ceremony attended by community leaders and senior Navy officials. Since acquiring the 45-acre site in January 2025, the Charleston team delivered its first module within 40 days and surpassed its 2025 production targets, contributing to both submarine and aircraft carrier programs. With more than 480,000 square feet of covered manufacturing space, barge and rail access, and proximity to a growing skilled maritime workforce, the facility plays a critical role in HII’s distributed shipbuilding initiative, which includes partnerships with 23 additional shipyards and fabricators nationwide and exploratory ties with international manufacturers.

In late 2025, the U.S. Navy included HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division on a shortlist competing for a multibillion-dollar attack submarine construction contract valued at approximately $25 billion. The Pentagon’s Request for Proposals calls for the delivery of eight next-generation submarines over a decade, with first steel cut scheduled for 2027. HII’s selection underscores its track record of meeting Navy throughput requirements, having increased hull module production by 30% year-over-year at its Virginia and South Carolina facilities. Award of this contract would extend HII’s shipbuilding backlog—currently valued at over $45 billion—through 2035 and support an estimated 15,000 direct manufacturing jobs across its workforce of 44,000 employees.