Login
iscover
Key US Navy ship and submarine builder Huntington Ingalls Industries has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire South Carolina-based complex metal fabricator W International and Vivid Empire, specialising in the manufacture of shipbuilding structures, modules and assemblies, including nuclear-powered submarines.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Upon completion of the transaction, the manufacturing facility in Goose Creek, South Carolina, will operate within Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division, with the site to support the construction of nuclear-powered submarine and aircraft carrier modules and structures for US Navy programs and will help support the US delivery of conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines to the Royal Australian Navy under the trilateral AUKUS agreement.
As part of this acquisition, all current employees will be offered positions with HII to continue to work on site.
HII president and CEO Chris Kastner highlighted the pivotal role this acquisition will play in expanding the US submarine production capacity and its impact on AUKUS timelines, saying, “It lets us efficiently add trained talent and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities to the urgent job of building ships, making it a unique opportunity to accelerate throughput at Newport News Shipbuilding in support of the Navy and AUKUS.”
The acquired assets include advanced production facilities with state-of-the-art equipment, tooling and infrastructure used to fabricate complex metal modules and structures, and are located on a leased 45-acre site with more than 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space.
The site has barge and rail access, and is strategically located near Charleston, in a region with a rapidly growing shipbuilding ecosystem and highly skilled trades workforce.
Kastner added, “HII is committed to increasing build rates for our Navy customer, and this investment in capacity alongside the Navy will help us do that.”
The facility in Goose Creek will be known as Newport News Shipbuilding – Charleston Operations, operating within HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. Current NNS vice president and chief transformation officer Matt Needy will become general manager of the site.
NNS is the United States’ designer, builder and refueller of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear‐powered submarines. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approvals and required contractual modifications from our Navy customer and other third parties.
Huntington Ingalls Industries is a global, all-domain defence provider. HII’s mission is to deliver the world’s most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for our customers to protect peace and freedom around the world.
