HII, the parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding, has finalized the acquisition of the assets of W International, a South Carolina-based manufacturer of modules used in Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarine construction.
HII CEO Chris Kastner emphasized the strategic importance of this acquisition, stating, “HII is committed to going where the labor is to increase shipbuilding capacity and increase throughput for our national security customers. This acquisition 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 immediately accelerate throughput at Newport News Shipbuilding in support of the Navy and AUKUS.”
Jennifer Boykin, former president of Newport News, highlighted the benefits of the shipbuilding ecosystem at W International’s facility, noting that all learnings and quality improvements will be shared across both sites.
Over 99% of the legacy 500-person workforce at W International’s Goose Creek, S.C., site have accepted offers to continue working under HII’s management. HII plans to create hundreds of additional jobs to support increased demand and growth at the facility, which adds 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space and state-of-the-art equipment to HII’s shipbuilding capacity.
In addition to submarine modules, the facility will eventually build modules for Ford-class aircraft carriers, produced exclusively at Newport News. The newly acquired site will operate under the Newport News Shipbuilding division as Newport News Shipbuilding – Charleston Operations, led by Matt Needy, current vice president and chief transformation officer of NNS, as general manager.
This acquisition comes as Newport News and Electric Boat strive to meet the Navy’s production goals of building two submarines a year. HII’s acquisition of W International’s assets, including the 45-acre complex and extensive tooling for complex metal fabrication, is seen as a critical move to scale up the submarine industrial base to meet this demand surge.
HII President and CEO Chris Kastner reiterated HII’s commitment to increasing shipbuilding capacity and efficiently adding trained talent, stating, “This lets us efficiently add trained talent and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities to the urgent job of building ships.”