HII is targeting a 15% year-over-year increase in shipyard throughput in 2026 as it expands outsourcing, invests in infrastructure and works to increase production across its U.S. shipbuilding operations.
Eric Chewning, HII executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy, outlined the plan during a House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense field hearing at College of the Canyons.
Throughput at the company’s shipyards increased by 14% year-over-year in 2025. About 40 ships are currently in active construction or modernization at Ingalls and Newport News, according to Chewning.
The company’s 2026 strategy is focused on workforce hiring, training and retention, modernization of shipbuilding infrastructure, and expansion of its maritime industrial base.
Infrastructure investment includes the use of physical AI in shipbuilding. HII also plans to expand its supply chain and increase the use of distributed shipbuilding.
As part of that strategy, the company plans to outsource more than two million hours of work in 2026. That would represent a 178% increase compared with 2024.
HII said the outsourced work is intended to increase shipbuilding throughput, create jobs across the United States and support investment by small- and medium-sized businesses in capacity and workforce.
Chewning also highlighted new collective bargaining agreements at the company’s shipyards that included wage increases aimed at retaining skilled workers.
The company is also expanding activities at Newport News Shipbuilding Charleston Operations. HII has been developing the previously underused facility into an advanced manufacturing campus supporting the submarine industrial base and skilled trade opportunities.
The Charleston development has involved cooperation with the U.S. Navy, the State of South Carolina and the Department of Defense’s Industrial Base Policy Office.
