Aircraft Carrier Construction News

Construction of the U.S. Navy’s second Gerald Ford class aircraft carrier has reached its midway point following the installation of one of the ship’s largest units.Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding said it has installed one of the heaviest of the planned steel structures, known as superlifts, that will be joined together to make up nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The superlift of the aft section between the hangar bay and flight deck weighs approximately 905 metric tons…

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced today that Bryan Caccavale has been promoted to vice president of strategic sourcing for the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. He assumed his new role this week and reports to the shipyard’s president, Jennifer Boykin. Caccavale joined Newport News in 2002 and has held leadership positions in contracts and pricing and business management. He also served as director of business management for aircraft carrier construction, overhaul and inactivation, where he supported the CVN 80 and 81 multi-ship procurement strategy. He began serving as director of strategic sourcing in April. “Bryan…

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced changes to its senior leadership team. Michael Smith, executive vice president, strategy and development, is moving to HII’s Technical Solutions division, where he will serve as president of the SN3 business and report to Michael Lempke, president of the Nuclear & Environmental group, effective immediately. Scott Stabler, executive vice president, internal audit, is moving into a new role as HII’s executive vice president and chief transformation officer, reporting to Mike Petters, HII’s president and CEO.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced several leadership changes at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. Lucas Hicks has been promoted to vice president of construction for the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), and Charles Southall has been promoted to vice president of engineering and design. Southall succeeds Jennifer Boykin, who previously served in the role before being named president of Newport News Shipbuilding. Mike Shawcross, who currently serves as Newport News’ vice president…

U.S. shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) said the structure of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is now 50 percent complete. The second Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier CVN 79 grew about 70 feet in length with the addition of the lower stern, which was recently lifted into place at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division. Like Ford, which was delivered to the Navy earlier this month, Kennedy is being built using modular construction, a process where smaller sections of the ship are welded together to form larger structural units (called “superlifts”)…

Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding subsidiary will hold a ground-breaking ceremony for its new Joint Manufacturing and Assembly Facility (JMAF) on Monday, June 22. Slated to open in 2017, the JMAF will support the builder’s Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier construction and current and future Virginia-class submarine construction programs and is designed to include multiple worksites, advanced technology, automated equipment, heavyweight cranes, large transportation doors and specialty paint bays to enable more efficient construction processes, the shipbuilder said. The event’s scheduled speakers include Newport News Vice Mayor Robert S.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) today hosted Sen. James M. Inhofe, R-Okla., for a tour of the company's Newport News Shipbuilding division. The senator, a military veteran, also met over breakfast with sailors from Oklahoma serving aboard the aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). Ford is under construction at Newport News and scheduled for delivery to the U.S. Navy in 2016. Lincoln is undergoing a refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) at the shipyard until 2016. Newport News Shipbuilding President Matt Mulherin led the tour, which included a visit to one of the shipyard's aircraft carrier construction facilities, a demonstration of the virtual design tool being used to design Ford-class aircraft carriers and a tour of Ford.

Chinese officials have confirmed that the country is currently building a second aircraft carrier, say local media. The People’s Daily, the Communist party mouthpiece, quoted top officials as confirming the craft’s construction. The ship is reportedly being built in a shipyard in the northeastern city of Dalian, where China’s first carrier, the Liaoning, was refitted before going into service in 2012. Until now the military has tried to keep the second carrier a secret and at least two reports in Chinese media about the ship have been censored. The report also cited Ding Haichun, who was promoted to the position of deputy political commissioner of the PLA Navy back in January, as confirming that China’s second aircraft carrier is under construction.

A further milestone has been reached in the assembly of the first of the UK’s new Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers by Babcock at Rosyth, Scotland, where the massive Super Block 03 (SB03) has been moved 90 metres north to meet Lower Block 02 (LB02) in a major hydraulic skidding operation, as part of Assembly Cycle B (the second of the three assembly cycles) which has now begun. The aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabethand HMS Prince of Wales –  by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA)…

Construction of the first Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carrier took a significant step forward today, as the final rings of the forward hull section came together for the first time at BAE Systems’ facility in Portsmouth Naval Base. Two huge ring sections of Lower Block 02 were joined together in a 30 minute move involving 26 remote controlled hydraulic transporters. Workers carefully manoeuvred a 3,700 tonne slice of the block over 25 metres across the company’s production hall, where it was carefully lined up to join the rest of the hull. The hull block is made up of five rings in total, with the first rings joined in April, today’s move marks the end of the three month process.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., May 11, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (NYSE:HII) reported first quarter 2011 sales of $1.68 billion, down 1.6 percent from the same period last year, and operating margin of 5.0 percent, essentially flat year over year. First quarter earnings per share was $0.92, up from $0.85 in 2010. New business awards for the 2011 first quarter totaled $1.7 billion, bringing total backlog to $17.4 billion as of March 31, 2011. "As a newly independent company, we are focused on providing high-quality products and services to our customers, the U.S.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded a $186.6m cost plus fixed fee contract from the U.S. Navy to continue the engineering and design effort for the nation's newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). The company's Shipbuilding sector is the prime contractor. This planned contract modification funds additional design, planning and system integration activities and analysis to support CVN 78 construction. "This planned contract modification is essential to continuing the ship design to support construction…

The American Shipbuilding Association (ASA) announced that Mr. John F. “Dugan” Shipway, President of Bath Iron Works, Bath, ME, has been elected Chairman of the Board of ASA for calendar years 2009 and 2010. Mr. Matthew J. Mulherin, Sector Vice President and General Manager of Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA, has been elected as the Association’s Vice Chairman. Dugan Shipway joined Electric Boat in July of 2000 as a Special Assistant to the President and was appointed President of Bath Iron Works on April 28, 2003. Prior to joining Electric Boat, he was a career Navy officer, retiring as a Rear Admiral after 35 years of service. He commanded a nuclear attack submarine for more than four years after previously serving on various other submarine platforms.

Grumman Newport News (NGNN) have successfully renegotiated a modification to the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) contract for the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). The contract modification extends the end date of the USS Eisenhower RCOH by 11 weeks to Nov. 6, 2004. This modification is due to realignment of work priorities to complete the USS Enterprise extended drydocking selected restricted availability, and the unforeseen impact of Hurricane Isabel. Northrop Grumman Newport News team is highly unique. of the Navy, for research, development and acquisition. future contracts for aircraft carrier construction and overhaul. anywhere by any organization. additional motivation to reduce costs so they can maximize their fee. is beneficial to both NGNN and the Navy.

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Newport News sector announced the appointment of Matthew J. Mulherin as sector vice president of the CVNX program, which includes design and engineering work associated with the new class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for the United States Navy. Mr. Mulherin, 43, is responsible for program management, engineering, production and planning for the CVNX program. "Matt brings to this position a high level of expertise in the nuclear shipbuilding arena and a good understanding of our customer's objectives in the design and engineering of the future class of carriers," said Thomas C. Schievelbein, corporate vice president and president of the Newport News sector. Prior to this promotion, Mr. Mulherin served as program director, CVNX. Mr.

Northrop Grumman's Newport News sector announced that Bob Gunter, senior vice president, Aircraft Carrier Program, has assumed the management for the Carrier Overhaul Program. responsible for carrier overhaul operations at Newport News. environment," says Newport News President Tom Schievelbein. third of the company's business. USS Enterprise (CVN 65) in Norfolk , the overhaul and refueling of the USS Dwight D. refueling of both the ship’s reactors, as well as significant modernization work. aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) scheduled for 2004. Gunter, 45, joined the company in 1983. He holds a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in Engineering from Virginia Tech and is a resident of Virginia Beach.

President Bush signed a defense spending bill that includes money for the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier construction in Newport News and advance funding aimed at speeding up submarine construction. The annual defense appropriations bill, which totals about $460b, includes about $2.8b for the Ford carrier, as Bush first requested in February. The Navy is hoping to build the ship for $8.1b, not counting the research and development costs for designing a new class of carrier. Outside experts warn the price is sure to rise. The $2.8b in the legislation, when combined with advance funding already allocated, would cover about 40 percent of the cost of the ship. The remaining 60 percent is due to be provided in next year's budget request.

Northrop Grumman has completed work on a covered module outfitting facility to support Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier construction. Northrop Grumman Corporation has completed work on a pier and a covered module outfitting facility to improve manufacturing efficiency. These new facilities are among several capital investments the company is making to further modernize its Newport News sector. The multi-level pier is 1,040 ft. long and is designed to support outfitting and testing for both aircraft carrier new construction and overhaul. Among its features are 28,000 sq. ft. of material staging area, raised crane rails to improve material flow to the ship deck, 300 office spaces, lunch tables and passageways for personnel and vehicles. Representatives of Northrop Grumman and the U.S.

Newport News Shipbuilding reported net earnings of $20 million, or $.58 per diluted share for the third quarter of 1999. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) for the quarter were $47 million, up nine percent from EBIT of $43 million in the same period last year. "This was another excellent quarter for Newport News. We were able to deliver solid earnings gains, exceed our cash flow target and negotiate a new five-year labor agreement," said William P. Fricks, chairman and CEO. "We also demonstrated our significant capabilities in fleet services with carrier life-cycle support activity in Newport News, San Diego and Seattle. Overall, we see our continued strong performance in 1999 as providing a solid foundation for 2000.

The boards of directors of Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) and Avondale Industries have approved a definitive agreement to combine the two companies. The transaction creates a leading, broad-based shipbuilding company with estimated 1999 revenues of $2.6 billion and nearly 24,000 employees. The combined company will be known as Newport News Avondale Industries. "The combination of Newport News and Avondale brings together two highly skilled and tremendously capable shipbuilding companies,'' said William P. Fricks, chairman and CEO of Newport News. Albert L. Bossier, Jr., chairman and CEO of Avondale, said, "This merger is about building a stronger combined company.