HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division is expanding its distributed shipbuilding program to include modular construction for the Navy’s San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock program.
The Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard said eight structural units for the future Philadelphia (LPD 32) have been awarded to two partner shipyards and are in the early stages of production.
The move extends a production strategy Ingalls has already used on its Arleigh Burke-class destroyer program, in which outside shipyards fabricate large structural units before sending them to Pascagoula for assembly and integration.
“Expanding distributed shipbuilding into the LPD program is a critical step in scaling capacity to meet rising fleet demand,” Ingalls Shipbuilding President Brian Blanchette said. “By shifting selected structural units to trusted partners, just as we’ve successfully done in the Flight III destroyer program, we’re enabling more parallel construction and freeing our Ingalls team to focus on the complex assembly and integration work that only a major shipyard can perform.”
Ingalls previously used the approach on the future Thad Cochran (DDG 135), tapping Gulf Copper, Galveston, Texas, and Eastern Shipbuilding, Panama City, Fla., to build three grand blocks for the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. Partner-built grand blocks for the ship arrived at Ingalls ahead of its October 2025 keel authentication, allowing the yard to advance early-sequence construction work.
The shipbuilder is now looking to apply the same production model to its amphibious shipbuilding line as the Navy seeks to increase shipbuilding capacity.
HII doubled its distributed shipbuilding workload in 2025 and plans to increase outsourced shipbuilding hours by another 30% in 2026. The company said amphibious ships will account for a significant portion of that increase.
Philadelphia is the 16th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock and is being built at Ingalls for the Navy.
