Northrop Grumman Chairman and CEO Ron Sugar said in a visit to the Newport News shipyard Tuesday that the yard has made improvements in meeting cost and deadline targets. The yard's performance on aircraft carriers and submarine construction contracts has become an issue, with costs having risen both on Virginia class submarines and the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier. Improving such performance has been a priority of shipyard President Mike Petters, who's been on the job since last year. "We're in the middle of a great trend here," Sugar said on the flight deck of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier. "Is there room for improvement? Of course.