HII Completes Acquisition of W International Assets

January 27, 2025 4:01 PM - Updated: January 27, 2025 4:34 PM
W International site

HII, the parent company of Newport News Shipbuilding, has finalized the acquisition of the assets of W International, the South Carolina-based manufacturer of modules used in Virginia-class-and Columbia-class submarine construction.

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

“One of the things that we’re excited about with this acquisition is that they do have a good shipbuilding ecosystem down there. The training for the workforce, everything we learn from every quality escape that we have, will be shared at both sites,” said former Newport News president Jennifer Boykin in December.

HII said more than 99 percent of the legacy 500-person workforce had accepted offers to continue to work at the Goose Creek, S.C., site. HII said it plans to create hundreds of additional jobs to support the increased demand and growth at the facility.

The buy adds 480,000 square feet of manufacturing space and its state-of-the art equipment to HII’s shipbuilding capacity. It is also close to Charleston’s port and rail lines.

Eventually, the group will also build modules for Ford-class aircraft carriers, which are produced exclusively at Newport News.

HII will transform W International’s manufacturing facility into Newport News Shipbuilding – Charleston Operations. The site will operate under Newport News Shipbuilding division and will be led by Matt Needy, current vice president and chief transformation officer of NNS, as general manager.

The deal with W International comes as the Newport News and Electric Boat struggle to meet the Navy’s production goals of building two submarines a year.

“We have constantly assessed our capacity and really been looking at all opportunities to make sure that we have the capacity that we need to meet the build rate that the Navy requires,” Boykin said.

 

John Grady

John Grady

John Grady, a former managing editor of Navy Times, retired as director of communications for the Association of the United States Army. His reporting on national defense and national security has appeared on Breaking Defense, GovExec.com, NextGov.com, DefenseOne.com, Government Executive and USNI News.

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