For more than a century, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. has been designing,
building, overhauling, and repairing ships primarily for the U.S. Navy and the
U.S. Coast Guard. We are the nations sole designer, builder, and refueler of
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, a builder of amphibious assault and expeditionary
warfare ships for the U.S. Navy, the sole builder of National Security Cutters
for the U.S. Coast Guard, one of only two companies currently designing and
building nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy and one of only two companies
that builds the Navys current fleet of DDG-51 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
We are the exclusive provider of Refueling and Complex Overhaul services for
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, a full-service systems provider for the design,
engineering, construction, and life cycle support of major programs for surface
ships and a provider of fleet support and maintenance services for the U.S.
Navy.
We conduct most of our business with the U.S. Government, principally the Department
of Defense ("DoD"). As prime contractor, principal subcontractor,
team member or partner, we participate in many high-priority U.S. defense technology
programs. We operate our shipbuilding business through our Huntington Ingalls
Incorporated subsidiary, which is organized into two segments: Ingalls Shipbuilding
("Ingalls"), which includes our non-nuclear ship design, construction,
repair, and maintenance businesses; and Newport News Shipbuilding ("Newport
News"), which includes all of our nuclear ship design, construction, overhaul,
refueling, and repair and maintenance businesses. We also provide a range of
services to the energy and oil and gas industries as well as government customers.
Our two major shipyards are currently located in Pascagoula, Mississippi and
Newport News, Virginia. In October 2014, we ceased shipbuilding construction
operations at our Avondale, Louisiana shipyard and consolidated those activities
into our Pascagoula shipyard. We are exploring the potential for alternative
uses of the Avondale facility. For a more detailed discussion of the costs that
we expect to incur in connection with the wind down of shipbuilding at Avondale,
see Risk Factors in Item 1A.
We became an independent, publicly-owned company on March 31, 2011, when we
were spun off from Northrop Grumman. We have owned and operated the legacy Northrop
Grumman shipbuilding business since the spin-off. We believe our product capabilities,
heavy industrial facilities, position us well to continue to support the long-term
objectives of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard.
Engineering, design and construction of U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers
are core to our operations. Aircraft carriers are the largest ships in the U.S.
Navys fleet, with a displacement of over 90,000 tons. Newport News has delivered
30 aircraft carriers to the U.S. Navy since 1933, including all ten ships currently
in active service.
We delivered the U.S. Navys newest carrier and the last of the CVN-68 Nimitz-class,
CVN-77 USS George H.W. Bush, in 2009. We have been engaged in design work on
the next generation aircraft carrier, the CVN-78 Gerald R. Ford-class, for over
ten years.
We continue to be the exclusive prime contractor for nuclear aircraft carrier
Refueling and Complex Overhaul ("RCOH"). Each RCOH takes over three
years to complete, and the work accounts for approximately 35% of all maintenance
and modernization during an aircraft carriers 50 year service life. RCOH services
include propulsion work (refueling of reactors; propulsion plant modernization;
and propulsion plant repairs), restoration of service life (dry docking, tank
and void maintenance; hull, shafting, propellers and rudders; launch and recovery
system; piping repairs; and component refurbishment), and modernization (electrical
systems; aviation support systems; warfare; interoperability; and environmental
compliance). We provide ongoing maintenance services for the U.S. Navy aircraft
carrier fleet through both RCOH and on-site fleet repair work.