Photo caption: Shipbuilder and all-domain technologies provider HII hosted South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas at its Newport News Shipbuilding division today.

The visit was held in support of the trilateral Australia, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS) partnership (Photo by Ashley Cowan/HII).

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., (May 17, 2024) — Shipbuilder and all-domain technologies provider HII (NYSE: HII) hosted South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas at its Newport News Shipbuilding division today.

The visit was held in support of the trilateral Australia, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS) partnership. HII continues its commitment to supporting AUKUS, which set in motion tasking across all three countries to determine the optimal pathway to provide Australia with conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.

Friday’s visit follows a memorandum of understanding between HII and the South Australian Government signed in November that outlines the shared intent to participate in a cooperative working arrangement — leveraging HII’s international maritime industrial expertise to prepare South Australia for major shipbuilding projects.

“It was an honor to see Premier Malinauskas again, this time in the United States, and demonstrate HII’s long history of workforce and supply chain development expertise,” said Michael Lempke, who leads HII’s Australia business. “We look forward to continuing our commitment to help address critical skills needs, education and training programs, and supply chain capability in Australia as they create the infrastructure necessary for building, operating and sustaining nuclear-powered submarines.”

During the visit Malinauskas emphasized that the collaboration with HII could help South Australian companies enter the global supply chain for nuclear-powered submarines.

“I want to ensure South Australian suppliers have a head start in competing to enter the global supply chain for nuclear-powered submarines,” Malinauskas said. “Nuclear-powered submarines are the most complex machines in the world and building these submarines requires highly technical skills and capabilities. HII, America’s largest shipbuilder, is at the forefront of this technology — it was an honor to visit and see their shipbuilding team in action.”

NNS is one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy. HII is the founding member of the AUKUS Workforce Alliance (AWA), a dedicated partnership committed to preparing a skilled workforce in support of all steps of Australia’s optimal pathway to sovereign nuclear-powered submarines.