Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) raised its 2026 shipbuilding revenue forecast to $10.5–10.7 billion on October 29 after booking $32.4 billion in third-quarter contract awards.
The new forecast replaces a range of $10.2–10.4 billion that the company had set in July. HII reaffirmed its shipbuilding operating margin forecast of six to 6.5 per cent.
The quarter's awards lifted total backlog to $86.2 billion. The main shipbuilding contracts covered Block VI Virginia-class submarines, the second build of Columbia-class submarines, and long-lead-time materials for the aircraft carrier CVN-82.
The $5.1 billion refuelling and complex overhaul contract for USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) was finalised at the end of September. It will be recognised in fourth-quarter results.
Combined shipbuilding revenue rose 13.9 per cent year-on-year to approximately $2.8 billion. Newport News Shipbuilding revenue grew 18.1 per cent to $1.91 billion on higher submarine and carrier volumes. Ingalls Shipbuilding revenue rose 5.8 per cent to $876 million.
Year-to-date shipbuilding throughput increased about nine per cent. Ingalls had a slower labour recovery following wage increases implemented near the end of the first quarter.
Asked about the previous 15 per cent target, President and CEO Chris Kastner said: "We are trending a bit south of that towards the end of the year."
Kastner said HII expects distributed shipbuilding to exceed 30 per cent growth year-over-year.