HII (NYSE: HII) announced today that Virginia-class submarine Arkansas (SSN 800) was recently launched into the James River at the company’s Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division. Shipbuilders transferred the submarine from a construction facility to the floating dry dock, where it was launched and moved by tugboats to a submarine pier at the shipyard for final outfitting, testing and crew certification. The ship’s sponsors are the six women of the historic group known as the Little Rock Nine, the first African American students to attend all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, during desegregation.
Arkansas is the 27th Virginia-class submarine and will be the 13th delivered by NNS. The advanced capabilities of Virginia-class submarines increase firepower, maneuverability and stealth. The Virginia class, or the SSN-774 class, is a class of nuclear-powered attack submarine with cruise missile capability in service with the United States Navy. The class is designed for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral missions, including anti-submarine warfare and intelligence gathering operations. They are scheduled to replace older Los Angeles-class attack submarines, many of which have already been decommissioned, as well as four cruise missile submarine variants of the Ohio-class submarines.
“We are committed to increasing submarine construction cadence and throughput for the U.S. Navy,” said Bryan Caccavale, NNS vice president of Navy programs. “Nuclear-powered submarines are critical to our national security and we’re proud to see Arkansas in the water.”
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII) is a global, all-domain defense provider. HII’s mission is to deliver the world’s most powerful ships and all-domain solutions in service of the nation, creating the advantage for customers to protect peace and freedom around the world. As the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, and with a more than 135-year history of advancing U.S. national security, HII delivers critical capabilities extending from ships to unmanned systems, cyber, ISR, AI/ML and synthetic training. Headquartered in Virginia, HII’s workforce is 44,000 strong. HII comprises three divisions: Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi, and Mission Technologies. In April 2022, Huntington Ingalls Industries changed its branding name to HII. In 2023, HII received $5.4 billion in new contract awards, resulting in a backlog of approximately $49 billion.
