US defence shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has expanded its distributed shipbuilding strategy through its Ingalls Shipbuilding division to include modular unit construction for the US Navy’s amphibious transport dock programme, beginning with Philadelphia (LPD 32).
The company said eight structural units for the vessel have been awarded to two external partners and are now in early production.
The move extends a production approach previously used in the Flight III guided-missile destroyer programme, where partner-built units for Thad Cochran (DDG 135) arrived ahead of the vessel's keel authentication in October 2025.
According to HII, assigning selected structural units to partner shipyards allows parallel construction while enabling Ingalls Shipbuilding to concentrate on more complex assembly and systems integration work at its primary yard.
“Expanding distributed shipbuilding into the LPD program is a critical step in scaling capacity to meet rising fleet demand,” said Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Blanchette.
HII also stated that it doubled its distributed shipbuilding workload during the previous year and plans to increase outsourced shipbuilding hours by a further 30 per cent in 2026.