Steady work keeps HII humming

With two aircraft carrier buys approved, contracts for two Coast Guard National Security Cutters (NSC) and for a guided-missile destroyer awarded in 2018, Huntington Ingalls Industries has a backlog of work to keep it busy for years, company officials proclaimed Feb. 14 at its fourth quarter earnings call. HII CEO/President Mike Petters also gave insight into what the Navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan looks like from its Mississippi and Virginia shipyards’ perspective. The two-carrier buy adds $15B to HII’s contract backlog. Work on the third and fourth Gerald R. Ford-class will continue into the early 2030s. While the company has contracts for future amphibious assault ships Tripoli (LHA-7) and Bougainville (LHA-8) at HII-Pascagoula, Petters said future contract timing for LHA-9 and 10 put at risk some of the cost savings gained from running a hot production line. Petters would prefer signing a multi-year contract to build the Flight II San Antonio-class LPDs for the Mississippi shipyard. “I’ve said this is a very exciting time in shipbuilding,” Petters proclaimed. “Orders are in the book and the team can get cut loose to execute those orders.” (Source: USNI News 02/14/19) Note: HII-Pascagoula also builds the Coast Guard's NSC.