Brenda Marie Rivers
Mike Petters, president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries and a former Wash100 recipient, has said the U.S. Navy and industry should engage in a conversation about risks to accelerate delivery of ships, USNI News reported Thursday.
“We have new tools, we have lots of different things inside the industry to allow us to be agile enough to be responsive; but we need to find the language that allows us room to do that,†Petters told attendees at a U.S. Naval Institute forum in Washington, D.C.
He added the company's Newport News Shipbuilding division has the potential to help the service branch address requirements for new ship designs and fleet architectures with a workforce trained in digital design approaches and construction systems.
CNO Adm. Michael Gilday said the current fleet is “too small†and needs to undergo restructuring in order to effectively operate in contested environments.
Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, deputy CNO for warfighting requirements and capabilities, noted that new technology such as unmanned surface vessels can help address fleet capacity shortfalls.
