Petters: HII is 'all in' on carrier discussion

The Navy's proposal to retire one of its carriers, which has since been reversed, was part of an effort to ensure the service avoided a "technological hiatus," according to Huntington Ingalls Industries' chief executive.

Speaking at a conference hosted by Bernstein today, Mike Petters said the discussion about whether to refuel the aircraft carrier Harry Truman (CVN-75) "started with does it make great sense to go and buy two aircraft carriers at a time."

"There's significant savings in the shipyard and in the rest of the industry . . . to go and do that," he said. But Petters noted it then creates an eight- to nine-year gap before it's time to purchase another set of carriers.

"Is that going to create a technological hiatus, if you will?" he added. "You're ahead if you’re saving money . . . but you could actually take a technological holiday and fall behind."

As a result, Petters continued, the Navy needed to look at what's next and opted to pay for that by retiring the carrier.

"The Congress said, 'Wait, you’re reducing a capability before you know what you’re going to replace it with,'" he added.

Petters said that while whether the decision makes sense is "debatable," HII is "all in" on the discussion of what comes next and what future aircraft carriers look like.

"We think that’s a vitally important discussion for the Navy to be developing," he said.