NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Governor Ralph Northam was in Newport News Tuesday morning to announce a special partnership between the Commonwealth of Virginia and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding division.
He said there will be 7,000 new jobs created total and 2,000 will be coming in Newport News over the next five years.
These new hires will support Newport News Shipbuilding’s contract to build significant components for the new Columbia-class submarines, along with its existing product lines, including the construction of Virginia-class submarines, the refueling and complex overhaul and defueling of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, and the construction of Ford-class aircraft carriers.
In addition to this significant hiring initiative the Governor’s Office said Newport News Shipbuilding is retraining employees over the next five years to incorporate new digital shipbuilding technology and is making nearly $1 billion in capital investments in the company’s facilities and technology infrastructure.
Northam said this is “Big for Newport News and big for Virginia.”
The efforts of many people working collaboratively made the program, called Build Virginia, possible.
Build Virginia will be led by the Secretary of Commerce and Trade, who will coordinate support from existing economic development programs for Newport News Shipbuilding’s major hiring and retraining initiatives. This partnership will be aided by various state agencies, including Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP), the Virginia Community College System (VCCS), the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC), and the Virginia Office of Veterans and Defense Affairs, the Governor’s Office said.
