On January 5, 2026, HII welcomed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division as part of the Pentagon’s “Arsenal of Freedom” industry tour. During a multi-hour visit, Hegseth engaged directly with more than 50 shipyard leaders, welders, electricians and sailors to observe production of Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines and the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier (CVN 79). He emphasized that “the wrench in your hand” translates into operational advantage for the Navy’s youngest sailors, underscoring HII’s critical role in national deterrence.

HII CEO Chris Kastner highlighted that over the past 12 months the company achieved a 20% increase in new hires and a 15% improvement in retention at NNS and Ingalls Shipbuilding. These workforce gains, coupled with targeted skills-proficiency programs, have driven a 12% uptick in module output and reduced average block-assembly cycle time by 8 days. With more than 40 vessels in active construction or modernization across both yards, Kastner said every day shaved from the schedule directly enhances forward-deployed naval capability.

To meet rising Navy demand, HII launched a distributed shipbuilding strategy, contracting with 23 external shipyards and specialty fabricators beyond its core labor pools. The company is also evaluating a potential new U.S. yard partnership to further expand hull capacity. At NNS in 2025, leadership restructured labor shifts to a 56-hour standard work week, enabling crews to complete year-end targets 11% faster than in 2024 and positioning HII to sustain momentum into 2026.

With a workforce of 44,000 employees, HII is the largest industrial employer in Virginia and Mississippi and the world’s top producer of unmanned underwater vehicles for the U.S. Navy. The company operates state-of-the-art facilities supporting serial-module production on next-generation submarines, and its investment in AI-driven production planning and digital twins aims to unlock further efficiency gains. HII’s all-domain defense portfolio spans surface combatants, UUVs, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training, positioning it to capitalize on accelerating Navy procurement plans in 2026 and beyond.