HII completes asset purchase of submarine metal fabricator

Huntington Ingalls Industries said Monday it closed its acquisition of the assets of W International, bringing in-house a supplier of submarine structures, modules, and assemblies that struggled to meet the Navy’s needs.

Terms of the deal, first announced in early December, were not disclosed.

Huntington Ingalls Industries’s (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding-Charleston Operations site in Goose Greek, S.C., will support the company’s and General Dynamics’ Electric Boat division with submarine modules for the Navy’s Columbia-class ballistic missile and Virginia-class attack submarines. The South Carolina operations add 500 workers and 480,000 square-feet of manufacturing space to HII.

HII in December said that taking over the W International assets would immediately help with increasing submarine production. The Navy wants the industrial base to eventually support building two Virginia-class submarines per year and one Columbia-class vessel. Production of the Columbia-class is underway but industry is only delivering on average 1.2 Virginia-class subs annually.

Newport News Shipbuilding-Charleston Operations will also build units for the Navy’s aircraft carriers.

“HII is committed to going where the labor is to increase shipbuilding capacity and increase throughput for our national security customers,” Chris Kastner, HII’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “This 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.”

AUKUS refers to the trilateral agreement formed by Australia, the United Kingdom, and the U.S., that includes helping Australia acquire conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarines.

A version of this story was first published by Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily.