HII is known as the country’s sole builder of aircraft carriers, but in recent years has pushed to rebrand as a defense contractor capable of providing technologies for all domains. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication 3rd Class Thaddeus Berry)
WASHINGTON — HII today announced it has hired Eric Chewning, formerly the chief of staff to the defense secretary, as a senior executive for strategy and development.
HII tapped Eric Chewning as a senior executive in January 2023. (Photo courtesy of HII.)
In an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense last week, Chewning said a key part of his job will be to bring opportunities from different parts of the company together to advance HII’s goal of transforming itself from predominantly a shipbuilder to an “all-domain defense provider.”
“Some of that may involve strengthening the industrial base, but some of it may involve technology transfer between the divisions in implementing digital process technology,” he said.
Chewning, a former military intelligence officer in the Army, served as chief of staff for both Patrick Shanahan and Mark Esper while they were the chief civilians in the Pentagon. Prior to that he was the deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy. Before joining HII, he co-led McKinsey & Company’s Aerospace and Defense practice in the Americas.
The hiring move comes as HII this past year has actively and aggressively rebranded itself from shipbuilder to a defense technology firm. One example of that shift has been the company’s greater emphasis on unmanned technologies, such as the Remus UUVs being tested and developed in Massachusetts.
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“The future fight is going to be an all-domain fight. HII is executing a business strategy across all the warfighting domains — sea, air, land, space and cyber,” Chewning said. “And it’s also working on how we connect those domains so we can manage information for warfighters and how warfighters can make decisions.”
HII also has aggressively pursued acquiring smaller defense technology companies in recent years to build up its non-shipbuilding portfolio, including Spatial Integrated Systems and Alion Science and Technology.
“HII has a unique opportunity to continue to deliver the proven capabilities our Navy urgently needs, while leading the way on technologies that strengthen and connect the services into the force of the future,” said HII CEO Chris Kastner in a written statement. “Eric has the depth of experience and vision to harness the breadth of HII’s talent and resources and advance that mission in service of the nation.”
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