Brand Intelligence Graphcompany
Company Overview
About Huntington Ingalls Industries
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (HII) is a Newport News, Virginia-based defense shipbuilding and defense services company — publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: HII) as an S&P 500 Industrials component — building and maintaining nuclear-powered submarines (Virginia-class attack submarines, Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines) and surface ships (Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear aircraft carriers, America-class amphibious assault ships, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers) through its Newport News Shipbuilding and Ingalls Shipbuilding subsidiaries, and providing defense technology and services through the Mission Technologies segment, through approximately 44,000 employees. HII is the largest military shipbuilder in the United States and the sole builder of US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (Newport News Shipbuilding — Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford CVN-78 delivered 2017, USS John F. Kennedy CVN-79 under construction) and a partner with General Dynamics Electric Boat for Virginia-class nuclear submarine construction (Newport News builds the stern, propulsion systems, and integration; Electric Boat builds the bow and performs final integration at Groton CT). In fiscal year 2024, HII reported revenues of $11.1 billion (+5% year-over-year), with the Shipbuilding segment generating $8.6 billion and Mission Technologies (defense IT, analytics, C5ISR services) generating $2.5 billion. CEO Chris Kastner has focused on improving shipbuilding performance metrics (on-time delivery, ship quality scores, learning curve efficiency) as the Newport News Shipbuilding facilities executed multiple concurrent complex programs — CVN-79 John F. Kennedy carrier construction, CVN-80 Enterprise carrier material purchasing, Virginia-class Block V submarine sections — amid post-COVID skilled shipwright workforce shortages and supply chain disruptions.
Business Model & Competitive Advantage
HII's naval shipbuilding model creates an irreplaceable competitive position through the 135-year accumulation of nuclear submarine and aircraft carrier construction expertise concentrated at Newport News Shipbuilding: building a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier (USS Gerald R. Ford — 4.5 acres of flight deck, 78 aircraft, 5,000 sailors, 100,000 tons displacement, 260MW nuclear reactor plant) requires 2,000+ specialized trade workers (nuclear welders, pipefitters, structural steel workers, electrical systems technicians) performing 50+ million man-hours of skilled labor under nuclear regulatory oversight — no shipyard in the world outside Newport News and Groton has the cleared, trained workforce and validated quality management systems to build nuclear-powered surface ships for the US Navy. The aircraft carrier and submarine programs' multi-decade nature (USS Enterprise CVN-80 material purchasing already underway for a ship that will commission in the early 2030s) provides HII with revenue visibility 10+ years into the future — with each subsequent Ford-class carrier generating approximately $13 billion in shipbuilding contract value at a single shipyard. HII's Mission Technologies segment (defense IT, unmanned surface and undersea vehicle systems, defense analytics) represents the growth vector beyond shipbuilding — competing for DoD digital transformation, AI-enabled logistics, and unmanned system services contracts that diversify HII beyond sole-source shipbuilding work.
Competitive Landscape 2025–2026
In 2025, HII competes in naval shipbuilding against General Dynamics (NYSE: GD, Electric Boat — Virginia-class submarine co-builder, only other US nuclear submarine shipyard), Austal USA (private, US Army/Navy support vessel construction), and Leidos (NYSE: LDOS, defense IT and unmanned systems competing with Mission Technologies) for US Navy shipbuilding contracts and defense technology services. The US Navy's 2025 shipbuilding plan (requesting 9 submarines, 3 destroyers, and 2 amphibious ships in FY2025) creates demand that HII's shipbuilding capacity is working to meet — with the AUKUS submarine supply agreement (Australia to receive Virginia-class submarines by the early 2030s) creating a third customer for Newport News's submarine production capacity beyond USN and US export demand. HII's workforce development challenge — recruiting and training 3,000+ new shipyard workers annually to replace retirements and address capacity expansion — represents the most critical operational constraint on HII's ability to increase submarine and destroyer production rates to meet Navy demand. The 2025 strategy focuses on CVN-79 JFK carrier delivery milestone execution, Virginia-class Block V submarine construction rate improvement, and Mission Technologies revenue growth through defense AI, analytics, and unmanned vehicle services contracts.
The Huntington Ingalls Industries Story
Founders
Recent Activity
View all →Company Timeline
Major milestones in Huntington Ingalls Industries's journey
Leadership Team
Meet the leaders behind Huntington Ingalls Industries
Christopher D. Kastner
Chris Kastner became President and CEO of HII in March 2022 and serves on the board of directors. He previously served as COO overseeing HII's three operating divisions and worked closely with division presidents to drive execution. Before that, he was Executive Vice President and CFO from March 2016, and prior to HII's 2011 spin-off from Northrop Grumman, held increasingly responsible positions on the B-2, Joint STARS and Global Hawk programs. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from Pepperdine University. Kastner serves on the board of New York Life Insurance Company and is vice chair of the Defense Industry Initiative on Business Ethics and Conduct.
Thomas E. Stiehle
Thomas Stiehle has served as Executive Vice President and CFO since February 2021, responsible for directing HII's processes supporting business growth and profitability goals, along with corporate business management, investor relations, treasury, internal audit, contracts, accounting, financial reporting, and M&A functions. He joined HII in 2011 upon its spinoff from Northrop Grumman, where he worked for 24 years. Previously, he served as CFO and VP of Business Management at Ingalls Shipbuilding and VP of Contracts and Pricing. Stiehle holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Hofstra University, an MBA from Adelphi University, and a master's in acquisition and contract management from Florida Institute of Technology.
Chad N. Boudreaux
Chad Boudreaux has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer since 2020, overseeing all legal affairs for the corporation and providing strategic legal counsel to the board of directors and executive leadership team.
Nicolas G. Schuck
Nicolas Schuck has served as VP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer since 2015, responsible for corporate accounting, financial reporting, and compliance with accounting standards and regulations.
C. Michael Petters
Mike Petters served as HII's first President and CEO from the company's 2011 spin-off from Northrop Grumman until March 2022, when he transitioned to Executive Vice Chairman of the Board. He led the company through its transformation from a Northrop Grumman division to an independent, publicly traded defense contractor and oversaw major expansions including the creation of Mission Technologies division.
Key Differentiators
Market Leader
Huntington Ingalls Industries is recognized as a market leader in the Manufacturing sector, demonstrating strong industry presence and customer trust.
Enterprise Scale
With $11.1B in revenue, Huntington Ingalls Industries operates at enterprise scale with proven market validation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Estimated Visibility Trend (Beta)
Simulated 8-week rolling score
Based on estimated brand signals. Historical tracking coming soon.
Similar Brands
Cummins
Cummins Inc. is a Columbus, Indiana-based power technology manufacturer — publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CMI) as an S&P 500 Industrials component — designing, manufacturing, and
Allegion
Allegion plc is a Dublin, Ireland-headquartered global security products company — publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ALLE) as an S&P 500 component — generating $3.8 billion in reve
Norfolk Southern
Norfolk Southern Corporation is one of the largest freight railroads in the eastern United States, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Formed through a series of rail mergers culminating in the 1982 cr
LyondellBasell
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is a Houston, Texas-based global polyolefins and chemicals company — publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: LYB) as an S&P 500 Materials component — manuf
Paychex
Paychex, Inc. is a Rochester, New York-based human capital management (HCM) and payroll company — publicly traded on NASDAQ (NASDAQ: PAYX) as an S&P 500 component — serving nearly 800,000 clients acro
Automatic Data Processing
Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) is a Roseland, New Jersey-based payroll processing and human capital management company — publicly traded on the NASDAQ (NASDAQ: ADP) as an S&P 500 Information Te
Compare Huntington Ingalls Industries with Competitors
Side-by-side AI visibility scores, platform breakdown, and market position.
Claim This Profile
Are you from Huntington Ingalls Industries? Claim your profile to see full AI mention excerpts, get weekly visibility change alerts, and optimize how AI systems describe your brand.
Claim Huntington Ingalls Industries Profile →Track AI Visibility in Real Time
Monitor how ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude mention Huntington Ingalls Industries vs competitors. Get alerts when AI recommendations shift.
Start Free Tracking →